Stripes
by Superpsych96
Summary: Shawn Spencer is a man newly returned home from five years of fighting and two more years of trying to figure out who he is. Can he put the past behind him and settle down in his home town after all he's been through? And can he do it trouble free? Ha! Good one. AU, obviously. Just a quick warning, sensitive material inside, not in the first chapters, but definitely later on.
1. Chapter 1

**I was/am not in the military. Just a quick waver there. Also Shawn's unit is a figment of my imagination, as far as I know. I don't own Psych, but all the other characters are mine.**

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 _ **Peters**_ _,_ _ **Casters'**_ _ **Island**_

 _"Sergeant Spencer, Colonel Drear will see you now." A corporal in a Class A uniform told the tired man in ACUs. The young sergeant nodded and walked into the office of his CO._

 _"Ah, Sergeant Spencer. Glad you got my message." Drear stood with a smile. "There's"_

 _"Someone here to see me, sir." Spencer cut him off, seeing the man in the chair, facing the colonel's desk._

 _"Yes there is, Sergeant. This is Captain Roman Crowe. He leads a team of the Heaven Hounds, Special Forces."_

 _"What can I do for you, sir?" Spencer asked standing at attention as the captain stood up and turned around, a smirk on his face._

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My bus finally stopped at the station in Santa Barbara, my home town. It's been a while, but it still feels, smells, and looks the same. That says a lot when you have senses and the memory that I have.

Just in case you couldn't tell from my little 3rd person flashback there, my name is Spencer, Shawn Spencer. And it's been more than a vacation since I've been home. Try 7 years.

I could have called my dad or my best friend in the entire world for a ride instead of taking a long walk with my army duffel that held my entire life. But Hell, why not, right? It was a nice day and I'd had a lot worse walks.

That would have been a fun call too. Calling up old Henry Spencer after not talking to him for a whole year. Hey dad, yeah I'm still alive. Can I get a ride and crash at your place? I'd sleep on a bed of porcupines first, thank you.

If there's one thing I hate, it's pity favors. I'll take hand outs, I don't care. I won't take pity favors, and I hate "owing" people. I left because I was tired of being controlled. I've been through Hell and now it's time to play, damn it!

So I made the ten mile walk, feeling like Dwayne Johnson in Walking Tall but without that annoying ass sheriff, with that stupid beard. Was he like, Icelandic or something? I mean really.

Anyway... my first objective was food and a place to hang my hat. Food came first and I had plenty of old stomping grounds to choose from. My favorite diner, Fat Slim's... yes I know the name doesn't make any sense... was my first pick. Can't beat breakfast all the time, right?

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I took my old favorite stool from my youth and plopped down. Before I sat I could still see my initials I'd carved in there years ago. That was the first grounding thing in my head that screamed "you're home".

Pineapple juice and a big plate of pancakes. At 7:00 pm, what could be better?

As I enjoyed my brinner(breakfast dinner, for those of you who may lack my culture and knowledge), I decided I should try to get back into my surroundings. I figured a newspaper would be a good start. Being off the radar for 7 years will leave your knowledge circle about as fulfilling as Nicholas Cage's acting career.

After I got my paper and went back into the diner, I stopped. There was some blonde chick sitting in MY chair! Who does that? Half full juice and a crawly snake easily marking my territory.

"Yeah, um miss?" I said a bit rudely, actually, "you're kind of in my chair."

"Oh?" she asked in a sweet, questioning voice.

I almost lost the nerve to fight for my chair, her voice and hotness catching me temporarily off guard. I fought for my country, chair's in my country so... I FOUGHT FOR THAT CHAIR! "Yeah, that is my chair. That's my juice and my crawly snake, which I have some unfinished business with. Unless you think you're up for the challenge of finishing it."

"Well in that case, I'm sorry, Mr..." the little cutie trailed off, probably fishing for a name.

"Shawn, call me Shawn." I smiled, taking the seat next to her but taking my stuff back. I studied this girl for a moment, she looked almost out of place. She was young, probably about 24... 25ish off a glance. Only four or five younger than me. No ring, no friends or boyfriend to be seen. Oddly fidgety like a bird that had PTSD from a bird attack and was always watching its back.

"Juliet." she said with a smile and went back to her paper. I was practically new in town, just like I figured she was from the signs I got off her. Signs like the picture of her parents in the top of her purse, she's probably been homesick and looking at them alot. I decided to drink up my juice and get out of there.

"Have a good day Juliet, I hope you find town to your liking." I gave her my best smile, paid for my food and her drink, and was on my way.

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I found myself at an unfamiliar building called Central Coast Pharmaceuticals. Gus had always been smart, but I never saw him becoming a pill shaman.

After a quick phone call involving his poor great uncle Bocephus, he was down and outside like a great cocoa blur. "Shawn, holy shit! Is that really you?" Gus blurted out, coming at me with an unmanly hug. It's been seven years since I've seen him, I had to hug him back no matter how awkward it was.

"It's me buddy, and I'm here to stay." I said, waiting for him to let me out of his suffocating, death trap of a hug.

"Are you living with your dad? Do you have a place, or..." Gus was offering me a place to stay I'm pretty sure. I figured he would.

"Yeah, I'm good Gus. I got a place today. Talked to a guy today, signed the papers today, moved in today..."

"Damn son, that's fast!" Gus smiled. I'm thinking he was just happy to see me back and taking responsibility. I didn't exactly do a Hell of a lot of that last time around... "My landlord is an old vet, so he was happy to sign me up as quick as he could.

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The next day was like my life had never skipped a beat. Gus had the day off, so we christened my new crib with video games(poor Gus didn't stand a chance at COD), and food more beer than I'm willing to tell you we had. Life was entertaining and I just needed a job. I didn't want another dumb ass dish washing or shelf stocking job. But when you're just shy of thirty and out of the army by just two years, good luck.

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After I had sobered up, and Gus a little bit, we decided a snack was in high order. My cupboards were sadly dry, however.

I hopped on my bike that I had taken back from my dad's garage while he slept last night, and told Gus I'd meet him at the store. Sure I could have gone with him, but I missed my bike too damn much not to ride it.

Yellow tape on the side of the road caught my eye, instinct telling me to pull over. I was never one to stop at an accident before I left home, but five years in the army will change your character.

I saw Gus pulling up behind me, getting out with a pissed off look. Frankly, I didn't give a shit. I was seeing what had happened.

"Hey, who the Hell are you?" Some taller older dude said, pulling off his shades like he was David Caruso from CSI Miami.

"My name is Shawn Spencer and I'm a mammal that cares." I introduced myself. "And this is my friend Gus, a slightly cooler blooded mammal that cares as well."

"Unless you have one of these," he said holding up a badge, "I don't we care who you are." I've known this guy for all of one minute, and he's already an ass.

"What happened here?" I asked, still liking to know whether he planned on being a dick or not.

"If I tell you, will you leave?" Tall dark and rude asked, a hopeful look on his face.

"Possibly. Your chances are higher if there's a juice box involved." I really didn't feel like putting up with his shit, so I gave him some of mine.

He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Simple drowning. Victim loses control of the vehicle and takes the last dive."

"Mind if I take a look at the body?" I pressed my luck.

"I thought you were going to leave if I told you!" Man was it easy to piss this guy off. I would definitely keep that in mind.

"And I said maybe if there was a juice box involved. Now seeing the body would also get me to leave." I smiled at him, hoping to win him over.

"I've already told you more than protocol allows Mr. Spencer. "There's no way your getting under this tape."

"What if I go over?"

"Shawn, let's get out of here." Gus pressed, taking the detective's side.

"Listen to your little friend, Mr. Spencer." This guy was starting to piss me off, I tell you.

If he wasn't going to let me down there, I was going to have to do what I could from behind the tape, maybe earn my way down. No skid marks anywhere. The brakes weren't working. Something did catch my eye though. "Well detective, are you going to blame faulty overseas engineering, or do you have an idea who murdered your victim?"

"Lassiter, can you come look at this for a second? We found a note in the victim's palm." It was that sweet voiced hottie from the diner... Juliet. "Shawn? Why are you here?" She seemed to be quite surprised by my appearance. Another bonus, she remembered my name.

"Oh, I was just telling Detective Lassiter here that your victim in the car over there, was actually murdered."

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 **Short chapter, I know. But this just is an opening chapter. Things will get better!**

 **And remember, nothing makes me write faster than good reviews!**


	2. Sandbox to Rabbit Hole

_**Some no name sand hole in Afghanistan. Heaven Hound Forward Base**_

 _"Tell me Sgt. Spencer, you ever had a tattoo?" Captain Crowe asked Shawn as they walked down the dimly lit hallway._

 _"Once, sir. My old regiment tattoo, sir." Shawn answered, rubbing the old branding._

 _"Well Sarge, you're 'bout to get another one. We can't have you in the family without us on your other arm." Roman said, patting his arm. "One other thing." Crowe said stopping him just before the door. "You can call me Captain, it's good to know who's ahead of you. You can call me Crowe or Captain Crowe, Hell, even call me Roman. But don't call me sir. When there's only five of us, loyalty, trust and family is all that matters. 'Sir' isn't exactly what I call a loving and bonding term."_

 _"We're Spec Ops, aren't we Captain? I expected a lot more... formalities and getting my ass kicked." Shawn said rubbing the back of his neck._

 _"Sarge, we deal with some of the most messed shit most of the world has never seen. If we stay too tight at all times, we'd snap like rubber bands. Take things light WHEN you can, or you'll go dark and never get back."_

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"Alright Spencer, I'll bite. Why does a random civilian such as yourself think this was murder over a simple accident?" Random civilian my ass! But I wasn't going to tell them that...

"I have a feeling that if you check the brakes on that Prius, that's motive right there... you'll find that they've been cut. Next dear Lassiter, we have the back left tire. Yes it's flat, I hope you noticed at least that. It's flat because there's a bullet in it. You're dealing with an armed killer there, Lassie."

The scowl on his face was priceless, whether it be from getting detectively slapped around or his new nickname(he even looks like Lassie in my head), it doesn't really matter.

The look on Juliet's face was pretty priceless too, somewhere between interested and amused. Still pretty all the same though. Her face, not the two feelings...

Gus grabbed my arm, pulling me away for a quick side bar. "Really? You come down here to see 'what's going on', and you tell THEM it's murder?" I really fucking hate when he air quotes me...

"Look man, I'm pretty sure the hot blonde is new, and Lassie looks a little tired." Lassie was definitely staying as his new name if I see him more often. "I'm just letting my trained eye lend a hand." I said, my middle finger to my temple.

"What the Hell is this?" Gus rudely asked, mirroring my motion.

"Long story from over seas, maybe later buddy." I didn't feel like telling THAT story right now.

"He's right, Detective Lassiter. It's a bullet." Juliet's new evidence baggie... wow that word sounds childish. Baggie? Really? The mini bag with the full sized bullet broke up the side bar and brought us back in.

"Alright Spencer, I'll bite again. How'd you know it was there?" Lassie asked, I could tell that bastard was throwing shade at me under those dope glasses of his.

"Just a wild guess." I shrugged like it was nothing.

"Wild guess my ass..." Lassie grumbled before his face seemed to dawn with realization. "McNabb!" At that moment a cross of what looked like a giant and a fun loving baby came from the crime scene, a goofy smile on his face. This guy could be fun! "McNabb, get under that car and tell me if you notice anything odd." Lassie's glare never left me.

We waited while mighty without the freak played under the car, before he came back. "Just some minor leaks, and it looks like the brake lines are shot."

I couldn't see it, but I definitely felt his stare get ice cold. If I was a 'random civilian' I probably would have been a little intimidated. "Why in the Hell did you know that? You waltz in here, minutes after we get called and you just KNOW more about our crime scene than we do?"

This wasn't going well. "What do want me to say, Lassie? I took some shots in the dark and they checked out." I tried telling him.

"Bull shit. O'Hara, cuff Spencer here and his friend.

"What? Me? What did I say?" Gus argued. He did have a point. This was all me.

"Oh come on buddy. You know having that sweet head had to get you brought down at some point. Everything comes with a price."

"This has nothing to do with my head, Shawn." I'm pretty sure it really didn't.

"I get a phone call to anyone currently living, yes?" I asked to Juliet, who was currently leading us to a squad car. It's been a while since a woman has had my hands behind my back...

"Yes Mr. Spencer, you both get a phone call."

"Sweet. What's your number?" I just had to, come on people!

"I think you should take this a little more seriously, Mr. Spencer." Juliet said in a warning voice. "I don't know what's going on, but Detective Lassiter seems to be serious."

"I'll go down to the station and see what Lassie has in mind." I said coming to the car.

"Duck your head." Juliet told me quietly as I got in after Gus.

"Juliet, you do care!" Juliet rolled those crystal blues at me and closed the door, the giant named McNabb got into the front.

"Officer McNabb? What are we being brought down town for?" Gus awkwardly questioned. He probably just didn't want this McNabb guy to be another Lassie.

"Honestly guys, I don't really know. He's never done this before... or at least not since I've been here." McNabb explained.

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We waited longer than was polite before we were moved to an interrogation room. I've seen some _real_ interrogation rooms. This wasn't one of them.

Finally Lassie came in and sat at the table across from us. His jacket was off and he was chewing on his tooth pick like a tool. "Alright Spencer, care to explain why you knew that crime scene after two minutes?"

"Because I'm that good? And why is Gus here? What'd he do?" I thought it was a fair question.

"Because I'm thinking he was your accomplice." Lassie said lowly, keeping creepy eye contact with me. Did he think he was going to get me to confess to something I didn't even do? Thinking I did it was ridiculous enough.

"Accomplice to what?" Gus's eyes shot up. Took him long enough... "You must be out of your damn mind if you think me and Shawn did anything!" Gus argued. At this point I definitely agreed. I didn't come home after seven years to be accused of murder. This was just bushly!

"We gave you some tips, Lassie. It's nothing to get salty about." I tried to tell him.

"Those tips were damn good for an untrained eye." If he didn't get that fucking finger out of my face, I swear to God I was going to bite it off. And the whole untrained eye comment... well we'll let that come in due time.

"If I... WE did it, why the Hell would we point out what we did?" None of this really made sense to me.

"Everyone gets their kicks one way or another, Spencer." Lassie's voice never got louder than a growl.

"Care to explain why you're talking to us like we just murdered someone?" We were probably going in circles, but I had nothing better to do. And pissing off Lassie was quickly becoming one of my favorite past times.

"Quit angering him, Shawn!" Gus hissed in my ear. Was Lassie's shitty tough guy technique actually getting to him? Oh poor, weak Gus.

"Relax buddy." I whispered to him, offering Lassie a mild wide smile.

"Because I'm pretty damn sure you did." Lassie said with an amused tone.

"Prove it."

"Prove you didn't."

"You prove you didn't." Ha! I got his ass on that one, the little bastard...

"You listen here you dodging son of a bitch." There was that DAMN FINGER AGAIN! "You're going to tell me what association you have with this case. Who you are, and why you were there. If I don't like your answers, I will lock your ass up on whatever bullshit charges I can until I figure out the truth!"

Ooh his face was red now! I smell blood in the water! I leaned back in my chair and addressed the viewing window. "Get all of that Juliet? You're my witness if I do see time and decide to sue!"

Lassie's jaw dropped and he began catching flies before speaking. "How the Hell did you know someone was there, let alone O'Hara?"

"Because I'm psychic, Jack!" I rolled my eyes and chuckled. That was a good one. There's always someone in the viewing room, usually a partner or someone involved incase something happened. It was an educated guess earned from too many years at my dad's side. He wanted me to be a cop, not a soldier. But that's neither here nor there.

Lassie's eyes narrowed, and a voice I didn't expect from the box sounded. "A psychic, huh? Really Mr. Spencer?"

"Chief, you can't really believe him!" Lassie argued with who was apparently the chief.

"Let's see if he can back his talk, Detective Lassiter.

Gus glared daggers and I knew I'd dug myself deep. Not hard times in Afghanistan deep, but pretty fucking deep, guys.

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 **There's intro chapter part 2. The story will pick up soon, I promise.**

 **So how am I doing at Shawn narrating? Please leave a review!**


	3. The Yard

_"That was one Hell of a job, boys. We won't be hearing from them again." Crowe praised his small strike team. "And Sarge, damn fine job of picking Dumadiva out of those people."_

 _"Just doing the job Captain. Sphinx was the one who spotted that guy coming from behind." Shawn gave a crappy salute to the team's top marksman._

 _"Today, we've earned a treat. I know I ain't often we break from rations, but we deserve it. Hope yall like pineapple." Roman smiled at group, holding the yellow rare gem behind him._

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"Mr. Spencer and Mr. Guster, there is a murderer out there. And whether you are a psychic or... our murderer as Detective Lassiter believes you are involved with, we will soon find out." The chief was skeptic about both claims revolving around me. So why were we playing these games? I should be out finding a job.

"Mr. Spencer, Mr. Guster... I think it goes without saying... don't leave town." Vick warned us before shooing us out. She ran a tight ship, but from a quick glance... she was kind of a bitch. Probably came with the position.

"So do we do our own thing, or ride with them?" Gus asked, pointing to Juliet and Lassie.

"How about you stay out of our way until we're done. We'll either bring you in later or never see you again!" An all too happy smile spread across his face. I was really beginning to dislike this man. But at least I get the chance to prove him utterly wrong.

Me and Gus hit the street for ourselves. We could sit back and do nothing, Gus's first pick I'm sure, or we could make Lassie look like an idiot and hopefully score good guy points with Juliet. That last part was in my top priorities. That blonde bomb shell was just so... you know what? I'll keep that to myself...

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After a quick run for smoothies(Gus was impressed I got my own), we decided to go back to the station to find out what we could about this case. It was our first and probably last, after all.

After dropping off an extra smoothie at a new junior detective's desk, I had to find a way to get my hands on some hard evidence, something to get my eyes on. "Gus buddy, you can still pick locks, right?" I asked hopefully. The look on his face made me worry.

"Shawn, you have no idea how great my abilities have become." Gus cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck as we went down to the file room. "With this bobby pin Shawn, I can damn near break into Fort Knox." He boasted proudly.

My hand slowly went out, and I stuck out a finger and flipped it down.

"Was that the Jackal Switch?"

"You know it." I said with a smirk, watching Gus go into stealth mode.

"What about Fort Knox?" The inquisitive voice of Juliet said from behind me, followed by a deep slurp. She found the smoothie.

Gus was already inside the file room, he knew what to do. I just have to stall. "Hey Jules, Juliet." I said awkwardly, rubbing the back of my neck as I turned around to face her. She didn't say anything. She just eyeballed me and kept that straw in her mouth like it was keeping her alive. "Lassiter would have tossed me out by now."

"Yup." Juliet said plainly before another slurp.

"Why haven't you?" I asked in genuine curiosity.

"Murderers, or the friends there of... don't buy detectives pineapple smoothies, Shawn." Another deep slurp. God could she be any cuter right now! And those inquisitive, almost mischievous blue eyes were impossible for me to look away from. "Whatcha doing in front of the file room?" she asked innocently as if she didn't know Gus had just Mission Impossibled the file cabinet by now.

"Taking a tour around the station. You never know what the Spirits will reveal or where, Jules." Jules? Where did that come from? You know, I don't give a shit. I like it.

"Mhmm. Why would the Spirits be doing telling you to come to the files room?" Juliet asked me as if in deep thought.

"The Spirits enjoy some light reading every now and then, Jules. And the spirit of that poor girl is trapped in those papers, unable to speak, unable to tell me who she is unless we those files." Wow, that lie just poured out of my mouth so easily.

"He won't find the case file in there." Juliet said shaking her head.

"Why not?" I'm pretty sure my face fell a little bit when I found out my latest ruse hadn't worked.

"Because it's right here." she smiled gently, handing him the file.

"Just like that?" I asked completely surprised.

"Just like that." Jules smiled again and turned on her heels. "And thanks for the smoothie."

"That smoothie could have been from anyone Jules!" I called after her as I watched her climb the stairs. And what a view...

"Could have been, but it wasn't!" Juliet replied in a beautiful singsong. This could be a very good relationship if I played my cards right.

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Our victim was a twenty three year old named Sarah Cosner. The autopsy report said she drowned with no other possible cause of death. So now there was no way Sarah was physically in contact in the killer. Our next step was to find out who or why. Then hopefully the other would follow.

That's when me and Gus decided to hit the streets for real and find out what we could about Sarah before Jules and Lassie beat us to the punch. They had the files and paperwork, but I had my head and Gus's random knowledge of shit I'd never think of until I needed it.

Hitting up her work seemed like a good place to start. Maybe someone would know why or who would have it out for Sarah.

"My name is Shawn Spencer, and this is partner Antwon McGunderblusten. I'm a psychic with the Santa Barbara Police Department." Holy shit did it feel weird to have a new title, even if temporary. I had to pause and think before saying that instead of Sergeant Shawn Spencer, U.S. Special Forces.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Spencer?" Sarah's boss asked with a slightly worried voice.

"Your waitress, Sarah Cosner. There was an accident this morning and we have reason to believe it was murder." I informed him.

"You wouldn't happen to have anything we should know about Ms. Cosner, would you?" Gus asked politely, but leaving no room for bullshit. Since when could Gus ask the hard questions?

"Um... Sarah was always a... a hard worker." the man who I assumed to be in his forties was having a hard time with words. "She was good friends with everyone here at work. Never missed a day. I can't think of anyone who would want to hurt her, let alone... you know." The man's voice weakened but he didn't cry, which I found odd. Not a single tear in the eye.

"Mind if we ask around a bit? See what was buzzing around the old water cooler?" I asked, hoping to see if the coworkers she was closer to might have anything.

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The entire work place turned up dry, and a familiar blue Fusion had just pulled up next to our blueberry. It was a pretty different set of wheels than what I was used to. Besides my bike, I can't remember anything I'd been in that wasn't armored or had more than four wheels.

"Spencer, Guster? What the fuck are you two doing here?" Wow was he getting tired of me!

"Woah there Lassie, watch the language in front of a lady! And Gus." I said in sincere upset. I mean really? You can't just drop an F-Bomb in front of Jules!

"Thank you Shawn, at least Shawn doesn't use foul language for no reason in front of a lady." She nodded at me with a small smile, then mean mugged Lassie.

"She'll get over it." What the Hell! "But anyways... what. Are. You. Doing here?"

"We just interviewed the entire staff here, since Sarah worked here. Came up with a whole bunch of nothing." Gus explained.

"Well maybe you'd have better look with a pair of these." Lassiter flashed his badge. "O'Hara, let's do some real work."

Lassiter walked off with his best attempt at swagger, and failed pretty damn bad.

"Sorry about his attitude, guys." Jules said with a frown. "He doesn't like when he can't control every part of an investigation."

"You're his partner Jules. He shouldn't control you, he should be working WITH you. Me and Gus are partners. We never tell the other what to do." I told her honestly.

"He'll trust me more once I get into the job more, Shawn."

"He better. Because you deserve more than to be told what to do and be ordered around." I don't know where that came from guys, but I wasn't taking it back. There was something about this Detective Juliet O'Hara. I can't put my magic middle finger on it, but there was something.

"Thank you, Shawn." She sounded shocked, probably because she'd never heard a serious word out of my mouth. Gus looked surprised too.

"Give em' Hell, Detective." I smiled and took my leave with Gus at my side.

"What the Hell was that?" Gus asked as we got into the car. I knew he'd ask. "You didn't even hit on her, but you go deep instead?"

"I'm not sure where that came from, but I won't apologize for it either." I said defiantly. "I was thinking about it a minute ago Gus, and there's something different about Juliet than most girls."

"You mean that she's hotter than them?"

"There's that, but that's not what I mean. I don't know what it is, and I don't know when I will, but I want to." That's further than I wanted to go. Time to switch it up. "Del Taco then we see what family or friends we can find?"

"You know that's right!" Gus fist bumped me. "Damn Shawn, for someone who's been gone seven years, you didn't seem to miss a beat." Gus shook his head with a satisfied grin.

"Trust me buddy, if the yard hasn't changed all that much, I sure have."

"The yard Shawn, what is this, Fast and the Furious?" I hate when he has to just poke holes all over me. Why can't he just let it go, damn it!

"That's one thing that's changed about me Gus. I'm crazier than I used to be."

"Calling Santa Barbara 'the yard' doesn't make you crazy, Shawn. It makes you sound like a tool."

"You're a tool!"

"Suck it!"

"You suck it!" Man was it good to be back, guys.

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 **A little shorter than most chapters I like to put out, but I'm just trying to get them out there with a limited schedule.**

 **Still in intro stages of the story, but it will pick up, just bare with me and please drop a review so I know it's worth my time and yours!**


	4. Old and New Things

The family came up dry today, sounding a lot like the staff at the restaurant. They all went on about how good of a person she was and how they don't know how someone could want to hurt her. There was a lot of water works from them and Gus, and we still had no leads.

I was about to call the investigation to a close for the day, but then I had a memory flash of that manager! I froze in place as the memory hit me like Gus's mom's cooking.

The dude's body language was defensive, and he didn't shed a tear. And above that, he seemed to be hiding something. I have my new lead! Oh how I love when a flashback comes together. "Gus buddy, we have to go find Jules and Lassie."

"Shawn, If you think I'm leaving before I finish this jerk chicken, you're out of your damn mind!"

Of coarse I wouldn't make him leave his... man, what's the matter with that boy? I'm not some kind of crazed monster! What sick son of a bitch would pull another man away from his hard earned jerk chicken? You think about that kind of monster, Jack! Woah, sorry.

"Of course you're finishing your chicken. C'mon son!" I exclaimed. "But I think I'm having a 'vision'. I put my finger to my head. I sure wasn't using air quotes. I've had too many of those thrown at me to use those. I hate those fucking things...

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"Holy crap ladies and gentleman, the spirits are coming in strong!" I yelled, quickly making my way through the station with Gus by my side, telling officers to make a path.

Lassiter eyeballed me like a baby baboon howling at the alpha male. He has yet to learn. Sweet Jules on the other hand, watched me with interest and wonderment. "What the Hell do you want, Spencer?" There was the response I expected. I think Lassie's just trying to be Papa Smurf, trying to kick me out of his mushroom.

"The spirits say that they know what happened to Sarah. Or at least who had something to do with it." I informed them, my latest idea deeply in my head.

"What are the spirits saying, Shawn? Who did it?" Juliet asked, urging me on. I had them biting my bait. Beautiful.

"The Spirits tell me one man, but give me two pieces of advice. The manager from the Slammin' Salmon Fish Hut. Sarah's boss."

"You think Mr. Monroe is involved?" Juliet asked, seemingly shocked.

"Indeed Jules, indeed. Get two warrants. One for Monroe's house and one to check his office. It's all in the papers, and poor Sarah saw it all. Find the paperwork, and you'll see what Sarah saw." I jumped up onto the desk nearest to me and let my leg give out. Then I purposely stumbled and rolled off the desk onto the surprisingly clean floor. "The papers will tell you why Monroe murdered poor Sarah."

"That's a Hell of a vision Mr. Spencer. Do the spirits care to give their guess as to what we're looking for?" Chief Vick challenged me from the doorway to her office, a skeptical look on her face.

"The spirits are mum on that, Chief. But I would be willing to bet there's a lack of money, or dirty money. Sarah wised up and Monroe couldn't risk Sarah telling." I said all of this on my back, still on the floor. "Secrets are best kept when they can't be told."

"Detective Lassiter, O'Hara. Get on those warrants. If we can find any kind of proof of Mr. Spencer's visions, it's more than enough grounds to question Monroe." Vick disappeared into her office, not another word.

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 _"Get down Sarge!" Captain Roman shouted from across the sandy street. I did as told, falling hard to the ground. I don't even remember where they came from._

 _The Captain tried to cover me, but an RPG saw him somersaulting out of his cover. I turned to fire behind me before I felt the white hot searing pain in my leg. In the blink of an eye, four masked men were on me._

I woke up with a start, launching upward to a sitting position, my hands going to my leg to soothe out the pain my nightmare had left me.

"Shawn, are you okay?" Gus asked, his eyes about to pop out of his head. You were yelling about some dude named Roman. And damn Shawn, are you sweaty!" Gus rambled off, telling me as if I didn't know. Of course I was sweating. It's fucking hot in Afghanistan in July!

"You kidding me buddy? I'm pineapples and smoothies." I tried to assure him, though he didn't buy it. "What's up?" I slowly got out of bed and tested my leg. Yup, I could stand on it this morning.

"Juliet called me. She said your vision was right. Monroe has two million dollars every three months rolling out of there in drugs." Gus filled me in, words flying from his mouth. How didn't he run out of breath? My God!

"Sweet. I'm guessing he's in custody and Lassie will be working on cracking that little macadamia nut."

"Macadamia nut, Shawn? Really?" Why did Gus feel the need to go after macadamia nuts? What'd they ever do to him?

"Would you prefer pistachio? Maybe cashews? Do you just not like a good nut?" I really wanted to catch him. I wanted to catch him so bad!

"I love nuts, Shawn!" There it us! Yes! "Uh... I mean... you can suck it!" Got him!

"I can suck it? You suck it! You're the nut lover!" Nothing else must be said!

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We casually walked through the doors of the SBPD and took our sweet time getting into the interrogation corridor. Juliet was standing outside Room A, waiting patiently.

"What took you so long?" Juliet asked before we stepped into the room.

"Sorry, I slept in because I didn't sleep too well last night. Just tried to catch up a little bit, you know?" The entire time I spoke I glared at Gus, making it obvious he wasn't allowed to talk about my morning. Like a good pal, he didn't.

"Carlton's already started. I think he'll crack any minute now." Juliet turned and watched Lassie through the window. It was a pretty straight forward interrogation. "What kept you up at night, Shawn?"

"Am I being interrogated right now?" I asked. Because if I was, that's not cool at all. I just blew the lid off this case, damn it!

"Just a simple question, Spencer. I know you had nothing to do with the case." Jules never took her eyes off of the scene behind the one way glass.

"Just a bit of bad dreams, nothing huge." I shrugged like it was no big deal. I didn't want it to be. Any of it. That's why I decided I'm a psychic.

"I know how that is." No you don't. "How late did you fall asleep?"

"Oh, I'd say about 10:00 am." I said as if I had to try to remember. I didn't have to try.

"It's noon right now, Shawn!" Juliet's eyes bugged at the realization I'd only slept for an hour and a half. "How are you not completely exhausted?"

"The Spirits enjoy toying with me no matter what time of night it is. I'm used to it." Yeah, that's what it was. The Spirits keeping me awake. Something like that.

"Was a life really worth your drug business, Monroe? You should have just folded up instead of killing her." We keyed in as Lassie pressed.

"You don't understand!" Here we go. Good job Lassie! "These guys are ruthless. It's easier to kill for them than to cross them. Because if I cross them, I'M DEAD!" That's a wrap people.

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The case was a wrap and we had the killer plain and simple. Monroe made himself a sweeter deal by turning in contacts, so we got a Hell of a bust out of the day too. What a Hell of a first case for a fake psychic. In two days! Can you believe that shit?!

"Mr. Spencer, Mr. Guster. My office, please?" It sounded more like a command than a question.

We did as told and hustled into her office, closing the door behind us. "You two do some impressive work, I must admit." Vick told us, taking a seat and a smile on her face. "In two days no less."

"Think nothing of it, Chief. We do as the Spirits command me."

"I think if you're interested, we may have needs of your services in the future."

"With all do respect Chief Vick, I think this is a one time thing." Gus began, before Vick gave him an envelope. "What's this?"

"That is a check, Mr. Guster. We pay our consultants for help on a successful case." Vick explained.

"On second thought, I suppose it wouldn't hurt for us to aid justice every now and then." Gus caved.

Gus opened the envelope and his eyes bugged at our payday, before flashing me the number as well. "The Spirits are indeed willing to help." I wasn't going to pass down good money, especially when it came from putting bad people away. And also... I was getting paid to see Jules from time to time.

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"Shawn, Gus! Wait!" Juliet had my attention as I reached the bottom of the stairs outside the office.

"Hey Jules, what's up?"

"I just wanted to say... good job on the case, guys. You two really came through on this. We put a lot of bad people away."

"Oh come on Jules, we all work together on this. Don't cut yourself short at all." I said hastily. She made it sound like she didn't do anything. "It's all team work, Jules." I told her honestly. "If you didn't trust us and weren't willing to work with us, we wouldn't have gotten those files and the Spirits wouldn't have spoken!" This bullshitting was getting easier.

Juliet blushed adorably. "Well good job to all of us then." She smiled lightly. "I look forward to working with you two later. Mr. Spencer, Mr. Guster." Jules nodded to us before going back inside.

"Man, you are in so much trouble." Gus clicked his tongue and shook his head.

"Me, in trouble from her? C'mon son!" I knew he was right.

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 **I am officially done with the intro part of this story. Sorry I took my sweet time with it. I'll really kick up the story soon if I can get some really dope reviews!**


	5. Leave Well Enough Alone

_I see dark. Not a fucking thing. Then blinding light causing me to wince and close my eyes. I try to adjust but it's hard. Of coarse I have a concussion. How else are you supposed to take down a Heaven Hound besides multiple blows to the head? We don't exactly go down easily._

 _My vision finally clears and everything is sickeningly loud and bright in this sad excuse for an apartment. Where the Fuck am I and when? I don't have time to ask as a hard fist connects with my jaw, causing me to laugh hysterically at this weak son of a bitch in front of me._

 _"Is that all you have, you insurgent little prick!" Of coarse he doesn't speak English. "If I wanted a kiss I would have called Natalie Portman!"_

 _The man in front of me begins to shake my shoulder and call me by name. What the Hell? Finally I realize, I'm not actually here._

"What's up buddy? I was just catching a little nap before work." I shrug off as if he didn't catch me screaming in my sleep a second time.

"Shawn, you need to see someone, you need help." Gus tried to push me. How the Hell did he know what I needed?

"I need to go to work, Gus. This is the first job that's offered me a shot since I started looking."

"You've only been looking since we wrapped up that drug bust!" Why does he always argue! "That was one week ago!"

"I don't care Gus. One week is too long. I can't just do nothing like I used to. That me is gone, Gus. That me was snuffed out at Basic seven years ago." I told him truthfully as I pulled on my New Balance shoes.

"It's not even work yet, it's an interview."

"So?"

"To a supermarket, Shawn. You're not a bagboy or a cashier. You're a highly intelligent and heavily trained man, Shawn. Don't waste that." Gus had my attention, but what was I supposed to do with my... skill set?

"And you have someone who needs a Special Forces vet?" I asked doubtfully.

"We have a case."

"Why couldn't you have just opened with that, Gus!" This guy sometimes, I swear.

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It wasn't long before we found ourselves at the station again, jogging up the familiar steps. I was more than happy to be in an air conditioned building at the end of a Santa Barbara July. I hated the heat. At least it wasn't dry heat, though. It was wet and muggy, terribly humid. I preferred the dry heat.

"Hey Gus. Hi Shawn." Jules greeted us with a big smile. "I'm glad you got my call, Gus. I would have called this one, but I don't have his phone number." Why was she talking to Gus like I wasn't here? "Care to fix that Shawn?" Juliet smiled and popped an eyebrow at me.

"Gus, sidebar please?" I took Gus by the arm and lead him back a few steps. "Dude, is Juliet hitting on me?" I thought it was obvious, but I wanted confirmation to be sure.

"She sure is!" Gus whispered. "Get it son!" Gus offered knucks. I felt like for now I'd leave him hanging. I'm not sure if I liked the idea. Of coarse Jules hitting on me makes her even hotter. I'm just not sure I want anything real, you know? And with a girl like Juliet, or at least from what I can tell, she's a long termer.

I left Gus's side and went back to Juliet. "So what's the scoop with the case, Jules?" I tried getting everything back on track.

I heard a sharp slap, almost like a pop out of nowhere. Without even thinking, I dropped down to one knee in a prone shooting position, my hand dropping to my leg like I had my old side arm. When it came to me that I didn't I remembered I was in reality.

I stood up like nothing happened and looked around me. Gus, Jules, Lassie and the chief were all around Juliet's desk. Gus and Jules seemed worried, Vick looked... interested maybe? But Lassie. Lassie had a look more of surprise, maybe even recognition? I really hope he didn't understand.

"Sorry guys. Never watch a horror or thriller movie with me. I'm a sucker for jump scares. So what's up?" I tried to play off what just happened, pointing to the file.

"John Doe. Twenty five to thirty years of age. Occupation unknown. Family unknown. Address and even phone... unknown. We don't have a single thing on this guy besides the fact that he's dead." Lassiter rambled off to us coldly. This wasn't like the last case.

I reached for the file and began to scan the photo of the victim. This guy looked like he could have been a movie star or something. We had absolutely nothing to go off of. All we could do was hope someone came looking for him, or we would just have to wait for dental records.

"Mr. Spencer, is there anything you can... psychically read from this?" Vick asked, not sure of what to call my imaginary powers.

"I'm sorry Chief, but the Spirits are muddled, trying to organized. Frankly, they're shocked. The Spirits have feelings and emotions just like us. They must think, they must breathe. They need time, Chief." How was bullshitting this so easy?

"Well tell them to hurry up." Vick finished before going back to her office.

"The Spirits heard that, Chief!" That was all I had for now. "I guess we just wait until something comes up on my lines or yours." I shrugged, nothing left to offer.

"Spencer, a word?" Lassiter's voice didn't give me much room to argue.

"Uh, sure. Jules, Gus, I'll be right back." I said before going to follow Lassie down some random ass hallway.

"Don't even try to lie to me right now Spencer. Back there when I dropped that file, what was that?"

"What was what, Lassie?" I tried to play dumb. I didn't want to talk about this with anyone, let alone Lassiter.

"That file hit the desk and you drop like someone pulled a gun? That's not a simple jump scare, Spencer. What's your deal? You weren't the murderer but you caught him. And we both know you're not a God damn psychic." All of those were true.

"What do you want from me, Lassie? Do you think I'm going to tell you I'm not a psychic?" I turned my back to walk away.

"At least tell me why you have PTSD." That stopped me in my tracks.

I stormed back over to him, right in his face. "Who I am, who I was, what I've done and where I've been isn't even close to your business. I'm good at what I do and I know how to be part of a team. And that is all you need to know. Copy?"

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Dinner seemed like a good idea, even if I was eating alone. Some nights, I preferred it.

I didn't expect a certain blonde detective to take the seat next to mine.

"Hey." She said plainly. "Mind if I sit down?"

"You already are, but I'd love the company." I smiled at her before returning to my coffee.

"Regular coffee at 8:00 pm? Isn't it a little late for that?" Jules questioned me. I think it may have been a caring gesture.

"I don't exactly like to sleep that much, Jules." I flashed her another quick smile before going back to the cup again, my dinner plate long empty and cleared. I liked the atmosphere of this diner. "Did you know I was going to be here or..." I trailed off, allowing her to finish.

"Lassiter told me to be careful around you? Why?" Well that was pretty upfront. Apparently she didn't care for my last question either.

"Because he talks to much, and I haven't given him a reason to trust me." I didn't lie, but I didn't say too much either.

"Did you give him a reason not too?" Why so many questions?! And if she wasn't so fucking cute, I would have scolded her for drinking my coffee! Even if it was just a little.

"He talks too much and you want me to talk more than I'd like. You guys are one heck of a team." I scoffed.

"Hey." Juliet nudged my arm to get my attention back. "Why do you keep dodging everything? It's not like you're still in danger of being arrested."

"Jules, I would rather talk about ANYTHING other than me. Okay?" That was the complete truth.

"Did you commit some kind of crime?" Juliet laughed a little, oblivious to what I was trying to keep to myself.

"That's what I'm trying to decide, Jules. Some people would say I'm a hero, but I just don't know." I said quietly, not wanting others to here me. There it was again. The truth, but the door was damn near shut.

Juliet chuckled drily, shaking her head. "Mysterious and hard to get doesn't bother me, Shawn. It only makes the chase more fun."

"Jules, you don't get it. This is not a game, it's not an act. Quit digging or I swear I will make sure you never want to see me again, got it?" My tone was harsh, but I was fucking serious. She didn't want to know me and I didn't want her to either. I can do 'just friends', but I couldn't tell her the fucked up shit I've done, gone through and seen. I work my ass off to try to get people to think I'm just average Shawn Spencer. Not a man with Purple Hearts and distinctions, two service tattoos and a set of dog tags in his wallet.

"Everything that's damaged, secretly wants to be fixed, Shawn." She smiled lightly at me, pounded down the rest of my coffee and left a $5 on the counter. I have a feeling this isn't the last time we'll have this talk.

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 **Let the games begin!(Insert evil laugh here). Huge thank you to my good friend and loyal reader TheShulesLovingPsycho!**

 **I like to update often, but I think I'd try a lot harder if I had more reviews...**


	6. For Gus The Bell Tolls!

Morning came and as far as I knew, 'The Spirits' were still in mourning. My cupboards were again empty, causing me to go to my little diner again. It was a lot busier than usual, and there was only one booth that sat three open.

I hadn't got more than coffee when I noticed a very upset Juliet forlornly looking for a seat. I cupped my hands to my face and shouted "Hey Jules!" to make sure I was heard over the roar of the place.

Juliet weakly smiled at me and slid into the seat opposite me. She looked grateful for the seat, but not overly happy to see me. I can't say I can blame her after last night. "Good morning, Shawn." Her voice was pleasant but not all too friendly.

"How are you today, Jules?" I asked, trying to kick up some conversation. I can't do awkward silence, and I think since I invited her to share the booth, that makes me host, right?

"I'm good. I'll be better if we can get started on that John Doe." Simple tone and keeping answers short and work related. I shot her feelings toward me right in the foot, apparently. But last night... it sounded like she'd keep coming...

"Yeah, I'm still waiting for the Spirits to open up, but all I hear is tears falling." I told her in my best sad voice.

"That's so sad!" she breathed, her eyes going wide and her hands covering her mouth, her fingers just touching the tip of her nose. I kinda feel bad for lying about that one...

"Anything else going on?" This was going to be an awkward breakfast if nothing changed.

Juliet just shook her head with adorable pouted lips. "No, not really. Same old, still trying to get used to a new town I guess. There was no hopeful tone to it, but I took it as a window for some good plutonic bonding with my new friend.

"Yes, the Spirits did tell me when we first met that you were new in town. I'm just recently returned myself." Time to tell the truth, but leave the shields up.

"If it's okay, can I ask where you were? I thought you'd been around here all your life." Juliet asked sweetly but with a bit of shy. She was asking smaller questions without prying. This I can do.

"Yeah. I did some traveling for a while. Met new people, tried out some new things. Some of it, I'm not too sure how I feel about yet, you know?"

"Yeah!" she jumped in. "Kind of like, you feel like it's something you have to do, or you really want to, but when you get there, and you do it, you're not so sure anymore." Her stunning crystal blues were on mine the entire time, I couldn't look away.

"Are you sure you're not the psychic?" I laughed aloud, touching my finger to her temple.

"I don't think I am, but maybe." Juliet smiled and began to giggle. That was a beautiful sound I could get used to hearing, but I couldn't get too attached. For her sake, I can't hold onto that.

"I bummed around a few states, picking up odd jobs as I traveled. Pretty much whatever I wanted, or whatever would hire. 9/10 the latter was the case." I found myself spilling to this little hottie, but I kept my secrets well bottled like finely aged pineapple juice.

"Sounds interesting. I've only lived in Miami before this, just a little beat cop. I got transferred here and I never want to look back." Jules summed up, staring off behind me as if there was another beautiful world, filled with hot cocoa rivers and gumdrop mountains and Tears For Fears serenaded it for eternity.

The waitress finally got to us, and Juliet had the idea of me ordering for her. Little did she know, she was getting the same as me, which was like getting punched in the taste buds by Joe Frasier if he was made entirely of pineapple.

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Breakfast had been pretty fucking awesome. At first Jules looked at me like I was crazy after hearing my order. We both cleared our plates though. That girl could go down! That came out wrong...

The conversation stayed casual and I told her about my days of bumming around the country for two years after I left the Service. I told her what I did but kept her out of my head. I expected her to ask questions, ones I'd avoid and tell her to not touch with a ridiculously long poll. But I didn't have to. She asked the only questions I'd feel comfortable about, like she could read minds. She never asked about my family, or my personal life, or my shitty failed relationships. She cared about the light and the airy, what made us smile and laugh.

When she checked her watch it was 10:30. "Oh God, Shawn I'm sorry but I have to go! I'm an hour and a half late! Lassiter's going to kill me..." she grumbled as I paid the bill and chased after her.

"No worries, I'll take the hit. He hates me anyway." I said what I expected to be the truth.

Juliet rolled her eyes as she got to her car. "He doesn't hate you, Shawn. He doesn't know you yet. He just got a bad impression."

That actually surprised me a little, but I had my theory too. "He doesn't trust me and he's afraid that I might actually be psychic." That's my take on it.

"Maybe." was the last thing she said before getting into her car and taking off. Did she believe I was actually psychic?

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"O'Hara... why so late?" Lassiter's Cheshire grin creeped me out a little bit.

"Carlton, I am so sorry. I was just..."

I couldn't let this happen. "Hey Lassie!" I shouted, coming out from behind my hiding place, seeming to appear out of nowhere!

"Spencer." There's that eye roll I've began to love! "Why am I not surprised?"

"You're not surprised, but you are pleasantly right." I corrected. "Juliet was late because I held her over. Breakfast with an indecisive psychic can take a lot of time and in some cases, wreak havoc on any time pieces within a fifty foot radius." This whole psychic thing was getting fun!

"As long as you stop talking, all is forgiven." Lassie said all I needed from him, causing a smile to grace Juliet's face.

"What's going on today, partner?" Juliet asked Lassie, trying to hit the morning's refresh button.

"We're still waiting on lab work. The blood tests came back inconclusive. Guy's just not in the system." Lassie shook his head.

"So..." I fished, seeing if there was anything for me to call in Gus on.

"The Santa Barbara Birthday Bash is taking place in the park today, so we're calling all available units to make sure it runs smoothly." Lassie told us, me not being a cop and Jules being new.

"Is that why the diner was packed this morning?"

"Yup." I replied simply. "Want an extra eye?" I asked, nothing else to do on a Sunday.

"We have enough ground surveillance, but thanks Spencer." Lassie politely shot me down. I think I'm growing on him!

I closed my eyes, visualizing the park, the lay out clear in front of me. "Give me a radio and put me and Gus in the church bell tower. We can see the entire park from there and the surrounding neighborhood blocks."

"Wow Shawn, great idea." Jules gave me impressed props. "Maybe it wouldn't hurt having a bird's eye view?" she questioned Lassie.

"I wish I had bird eyes. That'd be sweet. Those things can see forever, and the tiniest movements!" As much as I was acting for my benefit and to make them think I was nuts, that statement did hold water... "I'll call Gus and dig out my old binoculars."

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Not even two hours later, Gus and I stood in the top of the old church tower which hadn't been used since before I left home.

"Are you and Guster all nice and comfy up there, Spencer?" Lassie came in over the radio.

"Spyglass 1 and Spyglass 2 are situated and waiting. Spyglass 1 out." As much as I like to joke, even about work, I don't in the field. If something is happening in the here and now, that's where I need to be. Inactivity is for games, even I get this. Fun Shawn is napping right now.

"What's with all the seriousness, Shawn?" Gus asked from the opposite end of the tower.

"We're on the job, aren't we?" That's really all there was to it. "Keep your head up and eyes open Gus, the smallest detail can lead to the biggest catch."

"Is this my friend talking, or G.I. Shawn?" Gus questioned my advice.

"...both, I guess." It really was. "Talk to me if it'll help you stay keyed in." I coached.

"What exactly are we looking for, Shawn? Pick pockets, thiefs, fights?"

"Everything buddy, everything and everything. Jules told me that even the governor is here, so keep eyes peeled for weapons or suspicious activity. If you see Dan Akroid at all, you call that shit in, copy?"

"What happened to serious work, Shawn?" Gus challenged, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Right now we're simply spotting. As long as we're professional to the people on the ground, and professional about what we're doing, what we say between us doesn't really matter." I explained how things went for me, even in the Spec Forces. At least that's how the Heaven Hounds work. I don't know about the SEALS and Berets though...

"So a guy talking into his watch with a backpack and blue hat... call that in?"

"Uh, yeah. I would." I confirmed.

"Spyglass 2 to ground, Spyglass 2 to ground, do you copy?" I had to laugh at Gus trying to be radio cool, his voice so much deeper and punctuated.

"We here you, Gus." Jules replied, me being able to here her on my radio as well.

"Blue hat, brown backpack by the kids' arts and crafts, he keeps talking into his watch!" Gus reported.

"Got it, we'll have a guy keep on him. Thanks Gus."

"Man, that felt good!" Gus said, jumping up and down, pumped out of his mind at how much fun he was having on the mission. Did I just call this a mission?

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Time passed relatively slowly, not much going on as far as my half was going. I had half the park and a few blocks of town leading into it. The festivities were pretty calm with how much foot patrol there was on the ground.

The guy in the backpack we found out recently, had bought the watch from a vendor's booth, bit he did have four Roman Candles in his backpack, which was against city ordinance. So there was a small win for Gus.

Me and Gus switched sides of the clock tower occasionally so we weren't staring at the exact same thing for too long. It was my turn to watch the stage and podium when the governor was almost ready to go.

"Come in Spyglass 1, come in Spyglass 2." I smiled pretty wide when I heard Jules calling us with my codenames.

"Oh come on O'Hara, really?" Lassie said obviously in an upset at the playfulness of his partner.

"Spyglass 2 checking in."

"Spyglass 1 on over watch." Gus and I took turns replying.

"This is the biggest part of the party guys. Call us in on anything, Spyglass 1 and 2."

"Roger."

"Copy that, O'Hara." Is it just me, or is Jules extra sexy on surveillance jobs? I wish I had time to check her out from this view... I guess I'll see what happens later...

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My eyes were glued to the surroundings, I pulled Gus over to my side to be my extra set. We couldn't afford to miss anything. If I watched East and moved to center, he was moving West to center. We didn't leave anything under analyzed.

"Woah, buddy..." I grabbed his attention. "Jean jacket and jeans, work boots."

Gus found my man and watched him. "He's got something under that jacket." Gus confirmed.

"Spyglass 1 to Lassiter, Spyglass 1 to Lassiter."

"What is it, Spencer? More Roman Candles?" I hope that's all it is.

"49'ers hat, jeans and jean jacket. That guy's packing heavy, Detective. Take him."

"What, are you nuts Spencer? I can't just"

"In, not down, Lassie. Over." God, these people sometimes, I swear.

"Spyglass 2 to O'Hara."

"Go ahead Spyglass 2." YES!

"Swayed leather jacket and khakis, no hat. He's carrying too!" Good call, buddy! "They're probably in the same team!"

"Roger that, I'm on him." Jules and Lassie were both moving towards me and Gus's calls.

Wait one damn minute... I left Gus's side and began scanning the building lines, anything that had a straight line to the podium. I've never witnessed it personally, but I'd seen this on screen and throughout history enough times to see this one coming.

The governor just began to waive and make his way to the stage as I caught a glare from one of the windows. That could be anything, and I just have my old service sidearm Gus doesn't even know I'm carrying.

"Gus, come here. That window, right there!" He looked right off the tip of my finger. "Do you see anything?"

"Yeah, it's a glare, but that window is open! What do you think... no!"

"Keep your eyes on him, I'm going to check it out." I patted his shoulder and flipped open the hatch that would let me leave the tower and come out on the street. I don't have a Hell of a lot of time!

I sprinted down the road as quick as I could like Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon. The similarities between us were almost uncanny...

"Hurry up Spyglass 1, the governor is beginning his speech! If this is what we think, you're almost out of time!" I don't have time or the breath to response right now.

I got a lot closer, I'm at the building I need. The door flies open as I kick the cheap wood. Fuck the elevator, stairs are going to be quicker.

"Guster, Spencer, what the Hell is going on!"

"Black and whites to 517 Roosevelt Street. Fifth floor, five windows from the left." I huffed out as I continued to climb, recalling the placement from my sweet memory.

"Carlton, I'm on my way now. My guy was armed but is detained and on his way downtown." Jules joined in on the conversation.

Finally I hit my floor and burst through yet another door. I'm at full sprint again now that I'm on level ground. I find my door, draw my gun and kick open the door.

"Fucking drop it, white terrorist shit bag!" Not professional, but I'm not a uniformed cop either. And I wasn't wrong...

He took a look back to the scope. I can't let him get a shot off, aimed or not, too many civilians. Instead I pull my trigger for the first time in two years, letting a bullet rip through his right shoulder. He screams out in pain, unable to take the shot. I shot a civilian sure, but nobody innocent got hit.

I look around the room. I could wait for cops who'll be here just as I would be leaving, and not be involved in his shooting at all. I could say I never got here in time. Ooh! I got it! I came in after he was shot!

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"Holy crap, you guys got him!" I said running in two minutes after they did.

"No Shawn, someone else got him first. Whoever it was, they're gone and saved the governor's life." No, he wasn't long gone.

"Wow. I wonder who that guy was!" I said with a smile, truly happy to see that we won. I didn't wonder who the guy was though.

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 **Well there's a bit of a longer one for you. Hope you enjoyed a bit more intense of a chapter. I also hope I fixed any concerns a certain reviewer of mine had...**

 **Huge shout out to TheShulesLovinPsycho and my two "guests" for their reviews! Keep them coming if you want the chapters to keep coming!**


	7. The Voice In My House

_"Alright Sarge, what do you see?" Sphinx asks me as I try to focus through the heat. It's fucking hot, so fucking bright! What looks like waves of heat are dancing and wreathing across the sand in front of me, making it hard to see._

 _"I can't see a fucking thing, Sphinx. Wait..." I stop, seeing movement. "Three cliques to the West, I see one... two vehicles. There's a .50 cal. on the second." All we can do is stay focused and wait, wait for range. "Wait, wait, you're clear. Fire. Fire. Fire." Sphinx takes the shot, the noise contained by the silencer on the front of the high powered rifle. "Good job Sphinx."_

 _The driver lay lifeless across the wheel of the old truck, causing it to bumper the car ahead of it. Both cars lose control and go off road, crashing into the ditch on the side of the road where Roman Crowe and the rest of the team wait to take prisoners._

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I woke up happy to have had a dream, not another nightmare. I find myself cool and in control of my head instead of out of breath and sweat soaking my sheets. It's a nice change of pace to be rested instead of having phantom pains and being more exhausted than when I woke.

My phone rings next to my head, seeing _Juliet_ flashing on the caller ID. "Good morning Jules." I singsong as if I hadn't just awoken from another nameless mission, another nameless terrorist leader in hand.

"Good morning Shawn, I hope I didn't wake you." She sounded apologetic, like I had told her she had.

"Nah, I've been awake for a while. What's going on?" That wasn't true, I haven't even been up five minutes.

"Can you and Gus come down as soon as possible? We have a break in yesterday's assassination attempt."

"I don't know about Gus. I don't know what his work situation is. I'll be down in a half hour?" I asked, hoping that time would work.

"I'll see you then."

"Bye Jules."

"Good bye, Shawn." This 'just friends' thing, was getting a little annoying if I was to be honest. It was better than the alternative. I'll get to that later, though. Maybe...

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Half an hour was all I needed for push ups, bicycle sit ups and pull ups followed by a shower. Breakfast wasn't happening this morning.

I was happy to see Gus was there before I was. He probably got there right after got my call. "Morning buddy." I smiled at him, bumping fists with him. I just realized how much softer his hands are than mine...

"What are you doing up before noon?"

"Same as you, Gus. Jules called me and I came in." I shrugged. That's really all there was to it. I get the call, I go in and get the job done, I go home. Sounds a lot like something else I used to do...

"Hey guys, glad you could make." Jules said happily as she walked over to us from what I assume to be where they keep the files. She had two in her hand, so...

"Done holding Spencer's hand yet, O'Hara?" He's here! Lassie in the flesh.

"She hadn't yet held my hand today, so you can still beat her to it if you really want to. I ain't afraid of no ghost!"

"What the Hell are you talking about, Spencer?"

"If I knew, I probably wouldn't be saying it, Lassie. Sometimes the Spirits talk for me, and what they say are beyond our understanding." I'm beginning to enjoy bullshitting!

"Will you four come see me please, if you're done?" Vick asked us from her doorway.

We all made our way over and she closed the door behind us. This could be bad. Or it could be good. There was something in her voice that makes me think the first one though.

"Care to share what our recent ring of tests show, Detective O'Hara?"

"The dental records came back on our John Doe. His name is Jonathan Dykstra. We have a name, so now hopefully we can get to the rest." Juliet put that file on the desk and pulled up the second one, opening it and creasing her eyebrows. Oh fuck. "This one's a little more troubling. The bullet from the would-be shooter's shoulder, was from a Berretta M9."

"That's the standard issue sidearm of the U.S. Army." Why the fuck did Lassie have to know that!

"So you believe we're looking for a soldier or a veteran, Detective?" Now Vick was on board with this. I didn't have to turn to Gus to tell he was staring me down.

"Chief, I'm sensing that our shooter of the shooter is indeed a veteran. He was somehow onto it, and stopped it just in time. He doesn't want to be found, Chief. He just wanted to help and let that be that." I said, all of it being true.

"Mr. Spencer, this man as you suggest, did save the governor's life. But he still shot a man while acting outside the law. Regardless of his good intentions, what he did is against the law, and must be brought in."

"What the Hell kind of justice system is this?!" I yelled, completely outraged. This is bullshit!

"Mr. Spencer, please watch your language in my" I don't give a shit!

"No. Think about this. A veteran, a man who laid his life on the line for every one of us comes home and still tries to do the right thing! He saves a government official's life, and you still look at him like a criminal?!" Even if the guy wasn't me, I couldn't do that. You know what? I'm done! See ya SBPD!

"Spencer, where the Hell are you going?!" Lassiter called after me as I left the office. I don't feel like answering that. I'm pretty pumped that Gus is by my side on this one though. That'd be a stab in the back.

"Shawn!" Juliet called, briskly walking to catch up. "What's going on? Are you really turning your back on us?" Did she really just ask that?

"Detective O'Hara. This station just lost my number until this case is over. Got it?"

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This was the rough part. I hated going home alone at night. My empty apartment, all the noise that wasn't there. I don't even have a TV for God's sake.

The silence is when I heard what wasn't actually there, the dark showing what wasn't there either. Some nights I could shut it down by leaving a light on along with turning on my old radio.

I can handle seeing the guys again in my dreams, but it's the nightmares when I can't do a fucking thing about what I never wanted to live through the first time. Screams, smells, sounds and pain that almost made me lose my mind. Shit, I guess it isn't too late for that yet.

I try to drown it out with alcohol, distort it, blur it, you know? Tonight though, was the worst.

"How's it going Sarge? Still enjoying the life?" There's that smooth voice that didn't belong on a battlefield.

"You're not real man, you're not fucking here." I shut my eyes and slap my face, trying to make him go away.

"Oh come on, Sarge. Don't act like you don't miss me. Man we had some times!"

"You're dead Sphinx. I saw you man, I saw it!" I never got why he came to torment me when he did.

"Where the fuck were you, Spencer! We were partners! How many times had we been through the shit together?! Saving each others lives even!"

"Damn it Martin, I've told you over and over that I didn't know you were still in there till it was too late!" I threw my nearly empty bottle at who I kept telling myself wasn't there. He seemed so fucking real.

"Is this how you try to handle it? Drinking yourself till you pass out? You're a hero, Spencer. We all are! And you hide from it!"

"Heroes or not, that fucked us up! How couldn't it, Martin? You know what it was like! You were in longer than I was!" I fought, not knowing what I was fighting.

"What could it hurt, Shawn? Why hide it? Are you afraid to be treated like a hero?"

"Should I be a hero, Sphinx? I served my country. I saved lives. But I took them. I killed people too. They were bad people, sure. But where I really failed you man, why I really can't let people think I'm a hero... is because of you. I let you down, and I can't let people think I'm great when my partner died and it was all on me."

"You're right Sarge, it is all on you. I don't care how many times Roman said it wasn't. I'm only here in your head because you didn't look back! I'm not here knocking back a cold one with you because you didn't spot that fucker with that did me in with an RPG!" Sphinx spat at me, like I didn't know. "You were the one, Shawn you were Roman's special boy that saw everyone, saw everything. How many snipers, RPGs and IEDs did you spot? You broke records, Sarge! But you didn't. Spot. MINE!"

I can't take it. I just can't. "I'm sorry, damn it! I made a mistake! What the fuck do you want me to do!"

"I want you to fucking suffer! I want you to listen to this voice that my wife and kid will never hear again!"

"No, I can't take it! I live with enough scars! I can't take it!"

"Then what! What are you going to do Shawn! How are you going to get me out of your..." Sphinx kept his rambling, his screaming that was worse than anything I'd physically ever felt. I looked around me, hoping for anything. This oughta do the trick.

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 **Hmm. So that escalated more than I expected. It kind of just ran away from me...**

 **Next chapter will be on a more positive note. I almost promise!**


	8. Guns Aren't the Only Way

Is something touching my arm? I think someone's trying to talk to me too. That's definitely a muffled voice. Sounds like... it is... Gus!

I take a minute to remind myself of what happened last night before I allow myself to get up.

"Shawn, Shawn!" Gus cries out as I groan and come to life again. "What happened?"

"What do you mean am I okay?" I played dumb, though I know pretty fucking well what he means. I mean come on, he found me passed out on my kitchen floor. "Load, lock and hammer." I stated our old motto.

"Load, lock and hammer?" Gus questioned me with a raised eyebrow as I get to my feet.

"It's an army thing." I tell him plainly. No big deal. "What's up?

"I've called you ten times since you cut yourself off from that case. What happened here, anyway?"

"I got a little drunk last night. No big deal. Don't act like you've never got your drank on!" I challenged.

"First off, nobody says that, and they never have. And also, you're bleeding, Shawn." Gus points to the side of my head, dried blood on my neck. "Oh yeah, that..." I trail off, rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly.

"Shawn, there's broken bottles all over the place!"

"Just two, really." Why the fuck does he have to make a big deal out of everything?

"Why ARE you bleeding, Shawn?" Why was I bleeding... oh shit! I forgot about that!

"That's something I don't care to share, buddy. That story's like Skittles and STDs. Just because you have them, doesn't mean you have to share them."

"That's just wrong."

"Skittles, STDs, or Skittles with STDs?"

"Why would Skittles have STDs?"

"Well you see Gus, a long time ago there was this bad ass, sexy mermaid named..."

"Shawn, call me later." Well that's just rude. Leaving during an answer to something he asked! Whatever. It's probably better this way.

I still need to shower and get something to eat. Pretty handy that I live above Fat Slim's! I still can't get over that name.

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I forget sometimes just how great steaming hot water on sore muscles can really feel. Sometimes I have to fight myself to get out. Today is definitely one of these days.

After I got out of the shower, dried off, brushed my teeth and deodarized... you're damn right that's a word now! I think it's time for some... wow. Apparently it's lunch time.

It's a quick jog of a whole two minutes to get down to the diner from my apartment.

You'd never guess who was in my seat when I got there. Go ahead, guess!

"Jules, we've talked about this. You can't just take my seat whenever you want." I told her as I pull myself up on the stool next to her. "And don't try that _does it have your name on it?_ crap, because we've been over that too. It IS on that stool!"

"I didn't know you were going to be here today." Juliet replied like she was stunned.

"I live upstairs. I'm here every day. My picture is on the wall over there."

"So I can never sit here?"

"You can, as long as I don't catch you. If I do, we're going have problems resulting in consequences, Detective." I joked, but I think she appreciated it as much as I did, guessing by the blush on that adorable face.

Jules watched me for a second, an odd, quizzical look on her face. "So... you're not mad?"

"Why would I be mad at you, Jules?" I actually was lost on this one.

"The whole case thing? You did storm out of there yesterday, Shawn." Oh yeah, that!

"Refusing to work a case isn't going to make me mad at you, Jules. I'm not even mad at Vick. I just simply won't help in a matter I disagree with."

"Is that because Carlton thinks it was you?" I didn't see that coming.

I chuckle drily, looking her in the eye. "Lassie thought I was involved in the murder last week, Jules. He doesn't like me and that's okay."

"He doesn't have to like you. Because I already do." Could this girl be any sweeter? As long as she didn't dig in all the wrong spots, I enjoy a girl who can flirt back. It's just healthy.

"Well if it makes things any easier Jules, I am quite fond of you as well." My phone buzzes in my pocket, telling me it's finally time to get my ass to work. I forgot I actually got a job. Thanks to Gus. That's why he had been down this morning. I was to be working with him... as his assistant. At Central Coast, I was his assistant. When it came to being crime solving bad asses, he was my assistant if not equal. "Jules, I'm sorry. Gus is waiting for me, as it is my first day of work."

"Ooh, I didn't know you had a new job. Or needed one... what do you do?" I wish I had more time to talk about it...

"I'm Gus's new bitch. See ya!" I dig out my wallet and buy her lunch. Who says chivalry is dead?

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"Alright bud... Mr. Guster. What exactly is in my job description?" I ask my best friend and new boss. This could either suck, or be fun. Depends on if he's going to kick me around or be fair. Since I'm his lifelong friend minus five years, and he got me this job... I expect it to suck.

"It's mostly paperwork. You help me plan routes and appointments, get the phone if I can't, various types of forms and requisitions... that sort of stuff." Gus told me plainly, handing me a day planner.

I take it and start to leaf through it, taking in names, dates and numbers. "So I don't get you coffee, print shit off and fax all day?"

"You're my assistant Shawn, not my personal bitch. It's not like you're an unpaid intern. You help me do my job because after my promotion, I have a lot on my plate, Shawn."

"Sweet. I get to be a little extension of you, only not black. Not that being black is a bad thing? What's it like being black?" The look on his face told me he wasn't going to answer that...

"With you here to bust my load in half, that leaves us a ton more time to help with cases, if they ever ask us back after we stormed out."

"They'll ask us back when there's another missing persons or a murder that they can't solve without a psychic."

"Want to talk about what happened yesterday?"

"Not really. Nothing to talk about." I Think it's was true.

"You still carry a gun, Shawn."

"Good fucking thing, too. The governor of California would have been dead if I didn't."

"You were working with the cops at the time. Tell them it was you."

"No can do, Gus. Then they'll know I was some way involved in the Service."

"And why is that a bad thing? You don't have anything to be ashamed of, Shawn. You should be proud."

"That's the thing, Gus. I don't know if I should be."

"Do you want to talk about THAT?"

"Nope."

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The rest of the day went by pretty smoothly. The job was pretty simple once he showed me the ropes. But now was the worst time. Going home. Home was Hell.

"Gus, you wanna hang out? Watch a movie or have a drink?"

"Sorry, but I think I'm going to go home, catch up on some cleaning."

"Want me to come help with." I didn't have time to finish that sentence, because a scream cut the quiet night air, catching me and Gus's attention. "That was from this way!" I shouted, taking off at a dead run.

"Where are we going?" Gus called, trying to catch up.

"To fuck that bastard up!"

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I see the man directly ahead of me, purse in hand and no weapon. That just makes it boring.

I begin to catch up, not turning to see where Gus is. My first chance to overtake him presents itself in the form of a dumpster, which I quickly climb and jump off of, driving my elbow down onto his shoulder.

He crashes to the ground and scrambles to get back up. By the time he does, I'm standing directly in front of him. The weak son of a bitch throws a punch that's way too easy to deflect. I knock his ass down with a single side chop to the throat.

Gus and the girl who had been robbed catch up to us, my foot firmly on the man's chest. "Lady, here's your purse. Call the cops. Have them pick this piece of shit up. You are super hot by the way."

I gently punch Gus's arm, and we were gone like we were never there.

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 **So I'm not sure if I want to write this as it happens, or very close past tense. Any thoughts?**

 **And also... just review in general! Let me know how I'm doing!**


	9. Unknown Challenger

**I hope you all like this chapter. This chapter will be the beginning of the rest of the story. Unless I get yelled at...**

 **And I plan this to be quite a long one if I get the support.**

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"Dude, what happened last night with that guy?"

"What do you think happened last night? I caught up with him and took out his sorry ass. It wasn't even hard, Gus."

"So now you just run around beating the shit out of people?"

"Seriously Gus? You say that as if I do it just for kicks. These aren't just any random people. The guys I put away are bad."

"Well do you like it?"

"Yeah... a little, I guess. It feels good to kick ass when I know it's for the right reasons. I save lives and return what is taken."

"I'm just saying Shawn, maybe you should be a little more careful."

"More careful? Gus, I was in the Special Forces! Wait a minute..." That son of a bitch! "You're jealous. You're just salty because you haven't gotten a chance to kick ass or pop off guns yet!"

"Maybe I am! Nobody likes to be a sidekick, Shawn." The look in his eyes told me he really didn't like it.

"What do you want me to do, buddy? Train you or something." Why the fuck did I just...

"Yes!" His eyes shot open at the prospect. "Train me to be bad ass like you! Then we can catch these suckers together!"

"We already do, Gus! We do it with the cops. My two were just... special occasions." I really don't want to do this right now... As much as I hate to admit it, there things we could do that the police can't. Being a psychic and a vigilante could be a kick ass combo.

"Dude, come on! You being a psychic and us being awesome vigilante could be a kick ass combo!" Why did he HAVE to say the same thing I thought!

"Let me sleep on it, all right?"

 _"If you can sleep tonight."_ No, bullshit. This is day time, my fucking time! Why is Sphinx talking to me now? _"Did you really think I wouldn't find my way in, Sarge?"_

"Alright. Fine." Gus sounded kind of pissed. Did he say something when Sphinx was talking?

 _"You missed me, admit it!"_ Why the fuck would I do that? I loved him in life, but he was the voice that made me hate my life, who I was.

"You know what Gus? Start eating right. We start Monday."

"Start eating right? Please Shawn, I have the diet of Jillian Michaels."

"Jillian Michaels has a bear claw every day at work?"

"Suck it, Shawn." Ha! Got him.

"You suck it." _"This is really your life now? You used to be so good!"_

 _"Things will get better with time, Sarge. You did with the Hounds, and you will here. Now."_ That's a voice I didn't expect. Roman?

"Shawn, are you listening?" Gus's brows creased in frustration. "Everything okay in there?"

I'd like to lie and tell him yes. "I, I don't know buddy." I told Gus everything before I left. Why change that now? At least tell him what's up a little bit. He deserves to know, right?

"Are you to talk about it, whatever happened?"

"A lot happened, Gus. And a lot of it came home with me. I want to talk about it, you know? But I don't know... I just don't know how." These things take baby steps, and that is all I'm willing to give for today.

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 **Monday: AKA... Training Day... WHOO!**

"Push it buddy, push it!" Gus can do this, I know he can. "You've just got five, five more."

"My arms hurt, Shawn." Gus whines, pushing hard for two more.

"After this we can stop and have protein bars. YOU. CAN. DO IT!"

"POWER BARS!" Gus grinds out as he finishes.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Gus fist bumps me as he gets up.

"You know that's right."

I'm distracted by a gentle knock on my door. Gus is already here, and I've neglected to tell my dad I'm home. Who the... "Jules." I didn't expect to see her standing at my door. "What are, what are you doing here?" I ask her breathlessly, tired from working out with Gus.

"I talked to Devon, the owner. He told me which letter was yours." Jules answered, seemingly nervous.

"Um... come on in. Me queso es su queso."

"Shawn, you just said my cheese is your cheese."

"I know what I said, Jules. I just hope you're just as hospitable if I ever show up to su casa." I'm getting off topic. "What brings you by to my dojo, Jules?"

"I tried calling your phone and Gus's, but no one was picking up."

"What could be so important that you had to come breaking down my door at three in the morning?"

"It's 3:00 pm, Shawn. And I need help with this case."

I close my eyes and ring my hands together, trying not to get pissed. "Juliet, I told you that I will not help you find a man I am in agreement with. How many times must I..."

Juliet waits as I tirade, causing me to think that it's something else. "Jonathan Dykstra, our IDed John Doe. We've hit a dead end with him."

"What do you mean you hit a dead end?" There goes Gus again, saying what I was thinking.

"Well, we know he got mixed up in drugs one way or another. We got a warrant to search his house, and we found three different drugs in pretty large quantities. We don't know how he got them or what he planned to do with them."

"Why come to us? Talk to the DEA. This is their kind of thing. "Tell you what, Jules. Talk to the DEA, find out if this guy was planning on selling them, or if he was the supplier himself. If he had micro dealers, I want to know. If he was getting them from somewhere, I want to know."

"If we know that, what would you do with it?" Oh sweet Jules. How she underestimates me and Gus.

"Catch every last one of them."

"Can you do that on your own, just you and Gus?"

"No, we still need you guys. But you'll clean up this city a lot faster if we co-op."

"Wow, thank you Shawn. I'll go tell the Chief that you'll help us out. Nice place, by the way." Jules smiled as she turned to leave.

"Jules. Nobody visits my place without leaving with one of these."

She turned around just in time to catch the flying parting gift. "A protein bar, really Shawn? Ooh, cookies and cream flavor!" They really did try to make them as delicious as possible.

Jules left after receiving the delectable parting gift, leaving me and Gus again.

"Why don't we just figure all that out, Shawn?"

"Because it gives me time to decide just how far I want to go with the whole crime thing. By the time they get back to me, I'll know if I want to keep it the way it is, or go in deep."

"And give you more time to train me."

"That too."

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Why does my phone always have to wake me up from my sleep, the little of it I can get?

"Yeah?" That came out rude, but I don't give a fuck. I'm tired of people waking me up for no damn reason.

"I'd watch your tone, Mr. Spencer. Trust me. You don't want to piss me off."

"I'm already pissed for being woken up at 2:30 AM." Who the fuck is this douche?

"You wouldn't want me to spill your secret, would you Sergeant?" How do I describe this guy's voice? It's kind of like Bill Neigh. You know, the guy that was Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, the bad guy in Underworld? If you don't know him, look him up, damn!

"What makes you think I'm a sergeant?"

"I understand you're a dangerous man, Sergeant Spencer, but I am too, with quite a few dangerous friends." I don't take threats well...

"Listen here Jack, if you come here, I'll blow your God damn brains out. Come after anyone I care about, and I'll blow down your fucking house with everyone in it. If this is some sick fucking joke call, tell by my voice HOW FUCKING SERIOUS I AM!" I can take a joke, but there are some things I don't find funny.

"Sergeant Spencer, I think we'll have fun together. Unless you distance yourself from this case."

"How long have you been watching me?" I lower the phone and cover it with my hands. "Gus, the windows. Close them and the blinds. "What case are you talking about?"

"The two you are working on. They're related. There's already been a death and an attempted one. I assure you, the next assassination will go without hitch, with or without you."

"I take it you've been watching me a while then?"

"Good bye, Sergeant."

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 **Let's see where this goes(insert evil laugh).**

 **This story is about to kick up.**

 **To TheShulesLovinPsycho, I appreciate and love your chapterly reviews! Wish I had more like you!**


	10. My Carpet Ain't So Bad!

_Juliet wreaths beneath me, the heels of her feet digging into my ass as I pound into her with a speed I didn't know I had. Her fingers trace every one of the many scars on my back from lashes received in a cold cave in the middle of nowhere overseas._

 _The only words from her mouth are a mixture of my name and 'oh fuck's . She tightens her muscles around me and I know she's so close. Her mouth forms the beautiful O and she's about to cry out, I can see it on her face._

 _"Just a... little bit... more." I pant through gritted teeth. We're both about to blow when I fall and hit the mattress, my face buried in the pillow where Juliet's long golden hair had been so gorgeously tangled and down upon._

 _"Ooh, so close, weren't you Sarge?" Of course, leave it to Sphinx to ruin that. "Do think this could actually ever happen, Sarge? Yeah she thinks you're hot, smart and funny. Hell, she LOVES the mystery about you. But that... that'll never happen."_

 _I see Sphinx next to me on the bed, laying on his side and his head resting on one arm. Thankfully I'm fully clothed again or this could be really weird. My bedroom still smells of me and Juliet's activity, my hand rubbing back and forth on the sheet where she belongs. Sphinx either doesn't notice or care. "Why do you feel the need to take everything from me?"_

 _"This? This is all you, Sarge." Sphinx points to the doorway where Juliet appears again in hot, tight fitting jeans and a purple T shirt that hugs her perfect curves. Three men appear next to her and grab her._

 _"Jules! Juliet!" I scream and try to get off the bed, it's like I'm frozen._

 _"Shawn!" Juliet screams back over and over, flailing and kicking as they take her away._

 _"Can you save her Shawn? Can you save her when it really comes down to it? Or are you going to fuck up and drop the ball LIKE YOU DID TO ME!"_

I wake up in a hot sweat, struggling to breath and my chest pounding heavily. I look around me and my bedroom is empty except for me. I lunge across my bed to my nightstand and grab my phone, dialing the familiar numbers.

"This better be good, Spencer. Do you know what time it is?" Oh thank God she answered.

"Jules! Jules, are you okay?" I ask quickly.

"Yeah Shawn, I'm fine. What's wrong?" There's evident worry in her voice. I don't want to scare her.

"Nothing Jules, sorry. I had a vision and I just needed to know you were okay." I don't give a fuck how that sounded, I had to know.

"I'm fine Shawn, I promise. Are you okay?" Why is she worried about me? "That must have had to be a Hell of a vision to wake you up and make you want to call me."

"Yeah, a Hell of a vision." I mumble, not sure what else to say to that.

"Shawn, meet me at the board walk in front of your place in half an hour. I could go for some air, and it sounds like you need someone to talk to."

"It's okay Jules, you don't have to..."

"No, I want to. I know you'd be there for me if I needed someone." How sweet is this girl!

"Okay Jules, see you then."

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Juliet walks towards me with a small smile on her face, she seems happy to see me, but maybe a little... hesitant? My mouth is slightly open, seeing her in the exact shirt and jeans she wore in my dream just half an hour ago.

"Hey, are you sure you're okay? You look a little shaken?" Juliet asks, rubbing my back soothingly. I'm a little worried she'll feel a... fuck!

"I was worried about you Juliet, not me." Her fingers are very gradually digging deeper into my back, more than likely hoping I won't notice her curious probing. "Find something interesting?" I ask, false bravado in my voice.

"Shawn, what's all over you're back?"

"Don't worry about it." I shrug away from her touch.

She changes the subject, getting closer to me yet. "Your vision, do you want to talk about it?" Jules asks softly, trying not to push.

"I... I think it was a vision. It could have been an AWESOME dream that turned out to be a nightmare." Real talks aren't something I enjoy, but sometimes they have to happen.

"What happened?" Juliet's full attention was on me, her breath shallow and her eyes wide.

"We were... well that part isn't important." It was to me. "You were standing in the doorway of somewhere I didn't recognize, a bedroom somewhere. A really nice one." I close my eyes, calling my dream back to me. "The walls were white, with cream colored edging and borders. There were five pillows on the bed, one of them a Pillow Pet dog. The sheets were white and there was a navy blue comforter. Three windows." I opened my eyes and she looked shocked.

"Shawn, when have you ever seen my apartment, let alone bedroom?"

"That was the first time." Maybe it was a real vision... "But Juliet, you were wearing in the vision, what you're wearing now. These three guys came out of nowhere and grabbed you. You fought and kicked, but Jules... they took you away and I couldn't do a damn thing to stop them." My voice trembled more than I wanted it to. Where did bad ass Sergeant Spencer go?

"This is really frightening you, isn't it?" Juliet asked softly, her hand on my back again.

"Juliet, I haven't known you a month yet. There is something about you... something that makes me want, need to protect you. You don't know me all that well, but I CAN protect you. And I swear to you I will."

This promise left her mouth open, unsure of what to say. "Shawn, I.. "

"You don't have to say anything, Jules." Holy fuck did I want to kiss her right now, those soft sweet lips just so slightly open... just enough room for my tongue to... "Something is going to happen. Something Santa Barbara has never seen before." I didn't notice till now how close our faces were. "I will keep you safe, Detective O'Hara." I could feel her gentle, hot breath on my lips. It would be so easy to press my lips to hers. Instead I took her head in my hands and kissed her forehead slowly, allowing my lips to linger there. The attraction and connection I felt for this girl in such a small amount of time was ridiculous.

"Shawn, what are you talking about?" She asked me breathless.

"I wish I could tell you more. All I know is that you may be in danger Juliet, but I won't let anything happen to you, or Gus."

"Gus is in trouble too?"

"I'm sure of it. I think we all are. I don't want to be overdramatic here Jules, but I think Santa Barbara is going to war."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Gus buddy, come over. Let's have a beer, watch some TV..."

"Workout?" Gus really was serious about whipping into shape and doing more than just police consults. If I was going to be honest, I was getting more behind the idea of it if that dream and the phone call really meant anything. It was just a matter of knowing when.

"We got time for a quick one." I lied, it wouldn't be quick. I think I'll start teaching him to fight at the beginning of next week.

My phone goes off in my pocket, but I'm with Gus now and left Juliet this morning. I think I know who it is.

 _I suggest you begin getting your pawns together soon, Sergeant._ Just a text this time? They're getting bore-ring! I preferred the personalized phone calls myself.

"Gus buddy, I think we're going to be changing up our workout today. I hope you like punching bags.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Hey Rex, this is Sarge." I miss Rex. I haven't talked to this nut job since Afghanistan. He was a crazy little son of a bitch that outfitted the Heaven Hounds.

Rex owes me a couple favors because Sphinx and I saved his ass one day when he was on a supply run. Extremists set up road sides and when they thought Rex was out of the game, they tried to rush in and take prisoners along with any salvageable gear. They tried to swarm, but me and Sphinx downed all tangos. All twenty-five of them.

"Sarge! Holy shit, long time no see! What can I do for ya?" There's the Rex I knew.

"I can still cash in that favor from saving your ass, right?"

"You can cash that in after I'm dead for all I care. If that favor involves my ex-wife, more power to ya!" What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

"Rex, I need some gear. A lot of gear."

"You get into some kind of trouble, Sarge?" I think Rex is actually a little worried. I've never heard him worried.

"Yeah, I think so Rex. I can't handle it like a civi, you know? How much trouble would it be for you to get me a list of gear I need?"

"Well Sarge, it will be a lot of trouble and strings, but I'll get that shit to you as sure as I hate my mother!"

"I'm guessing that's a yes?"

"Sure is buckaroo! Send over that list and I'll see what I can do, Sarge."

"Perrrfect."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

A knock on my door. Why am I always woken up when I'm actually getting GOOD sleep?

I take my M9 from under my pillow and go to my door. Why the fuck doesn't it have a peep hole? And why the fuck is it called a peep hole? Can't it be a spy hole or a look hole? Why peep!?

I crack the door ever so slightly, my back to the wall and one arm strong against the door incase it's a hostile that wants to force in.

The door stays where it is, so I open it just a little more. "Um... Shawn, what are you doing?" Jules? Why does she keep finding a way to make it into my night life somehow?

"Jules, what are you doing here? Detectives should be in bed." I told her, tucking the M9 in my pajama pants waist band.

"I've been thinking, Shawn. If something bad, that you sense is going to happen, how can you protect me?" I expected anything but that. "Ever since you told me about your vision I've been looking over my shoulder at every sound and movement. But if you don't know what's going on, how are you going to help?"

"Juliet, I know you think I'm just some civilian, but I am telling you... I am more dangerous than anyone in this town knows. I have seen things no one ever should. I won't give you details, but Juliet, I am more than you think I am." I run a hand through my hair and step further back into my apartment.

"Shawn, what happened to your place?" Juliet's eyes widen at the state of my apartment.

I forgot about my little fight with Sphinx earlier tonight. It got pretty nasty and things got pretty fucked up. Mainly my furniture and anything glass. I rub the back of my neck awkwardly, unable to find an answer. I'm usually better at this. "Well things can get kind of hairy when you invite koalas..."

The look on her face shut me right up. "Shawn, what happened?" Her voice left no room for my preferred bullshit.

"I'm fucking smashed right now, okay?" I throw my arms up, not sure what to tell her. "I got fucked up and fucked up my place. No big deal." I sway back and forth now that my fight or flight worry is over.

"Right now Shawn, I think you're a danger to yourself more than anyone." Juliet narrowed her eyes at my state, not too happy.

Without even thinking, I walk to my kitchen and grab a steak knife. I turn around and whip it at my dart board on the wall, missing the bulls eye by just millimeters. "How's that for ya, Jules?" I ask, my arms spread wide in challenge.

"How can you do that? Drunk off your ass no less." Juliet asked me in what I hope was wonderment...

I walk back to her, causing her to step back into the wall, nowhere to go. My hands find her hips and my lips brush her ear as I whisper, "There's a lot of things I can do, Juliet." My vision goes black and I hear a terrible wringing. Am I falling? Yup, that's carpet on my face...

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 **Next chapter, we will see what Juliet thinks of Shawn in the morning. We will also see what nifty toys Shawn gets from Rex, and Gus begins his intense training under Shawn.**


	11. I'd Like To Thank UPS

**Sorry about the chapter delay. I took some time out of this to write a one-shot for Maggie's birthday. But now we're back!**

 **It took me a while to decide casting on this character, but I think I finally git it. Ladies and gentlemen... playing Roman Crowe, please welcome... ERIC. BANA!**

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Light flooded my eyes as consciousness slowly comes back to me. My head still hurts like Hell incase you were wondering. Where's my carpet? I slowly push myself up and find it's still there, but a pillow had mysteriously found it's way under my head.

"Morning sunshine." Jules?

"What are you still doing here, Jules?" I ask. I'm actually a little ashamed of her seeing me like this. I didn't tell her to show up at my door last night, though. My next question is why the fuck is there a steak knife in my dart board?

"You roughed yourself up pretty good last night, Shawn. I couldn't just leave you alone." Juliet told me quietly. Something was bugging her.

"Jules, what's wrong?" I ask nervously.

"You talk in your sleep, Shawn." Oh please no. "Who's Roman Crowe?"

At least it wasn't Sphinx. "Roman was a boss of mine a couple years back. I'd have liked to stay close with him, but his job doesn't really allow it."

"Just a boss? Because if I remember right, you called him captain a lot."

"It's a term of respect. The guy was a captain, a leader to a lot of us, Jules."

 _"Hey man, what are you doing? Why are you playing shadow games with this girl?"_ Speak of the captain.

Juliet snapped her fingers as I blankly stared into nothing. "Shawn! What are you looking at?" Juliet calls me back to reality.

"Nothing Jules. I just... nothing." I tell her lamely.

"Shawn, you're hiding from me and I know it. Care to tell me, or should I tell YOU what I know?" Juliet's glare told me it wasn't a bluff.

 _"I'd tell her man, tell her on your terms, 'cause she's got you by the marbles somehow."_ Damn it Roman...

"Okay, Jules, okay." I swallow roughly, a little worried... Okay that's a fucking lie. I was really worried about telling this beautiful, amazing girl that I'm a trained killer.

 _"Damn it Sarge, you gotta quit lookin' at it like that! Ya fucked up once, that was terrible sure, but you saved a lot of lives too, man. Remember that village in Afghan? That's hero shit right there! That's only one example."_

Okay, so some of the things we did helps me sleep sometimes.

"Captain Roman Crowe was my team leader. In Afghanistan." I expected some kind of surprise on her face. I was more surprised when there wasn't any.

"I figured that out when I found this on you after you blacked out." Oh fuck. I check my pajama pants waist line. Yup, it's gone. And that's why she's holding it up right now.

"An M9. Just like the one our bullet came from, right?" Her tone is harsh and her glare unforgiving. "If we run that bullet again, and this gun, they'll match perfectly, won't they?"

"Don't make me answer that, Juliet. Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to." I tell her softly, shaking my head.

"Shawn, did you shoot him, or not?" Her voice is almost threatening now. What does she want me to say? Does she want the truth? Do I lie?

 _"You gotta tell her the truth, man. If you lie, she tests it and busts your ass for lying."_ There's that voice of reason. Roman was always good at that.

"I shot him, Juliet. I shot him, I fled the scene and came back after you got there. Is that what you wanted to here?" I throw my hands up, I didn't ask for this. Things escalated, I shot a man, now I'm here.

"Why didn't you say you did it, Shawn? It would have been so much easier if you came clean!"

"Would it? Lassiter gets to put me away because I'm a civilian who just shot a civilian!"

"You were acting with the police! And you saved the governor's life!" Juliet continues to argue, pointing out everything I already know.

"You heard Vick, Juliet!" Why did she wince when I yelled her actual name? Was this argument starting to hurt her? "Jules, if I turn myself in, I go away. There's no way around it." I lower my voice, tired of fighting. "I can't turn myself in, Jules."

"So you're just going to tuck this away, forget about it and keep helping us on cases anyway?" Juliet asks me doubtfully. "Or are you just going to cut yourself out?"

"Jules, I don't have a choice right now. After I got involved with the shooters, I got a phone call. All the man said is that I need to stop looking into that case, or I'd get into a fight I can't win." I tell her honestly.

"Someone is threatening to kill you?" Juliet's eyes shoot up in worry. "Shawn, I don't..."

"Jules, I'm a soldier. You know that now. And what soldiers do is fight. The key to fighting a war Jules, is to fight like you know you're going to die. Once you accept that you're going to die, there is no fear. Only doing your duty the best you can before your clock runs out. When I told you that I don't have a choice, it's because my only option is to fight this thing out."

"Shawn, you can't do this. Your a civilian in clear and present danger. As a cop I HAVE to tell you to stand down."

"I'm not a civilian, Jules. I haven't been a civilian in seven years, Jules. That man, whoever he is, threatened MY life. I'm not going to back down from that because I don't have a badge."

"Let the ones who have the badges do their jobs, Shawn. Let us handle this." Juliet pleaded with me now.

"He knows my number. He knows who I am and that I'm a soldier. You, Gus and my dad are the only ones who know I was in the service. Whoever the Hell this guy is, he can dig deep."

A knock on my door breaks the discussion. "Jules, my pistol please?" I hold my hand out. I don't open my door without it. That's homeland security 101, right?

"Shawn, this pistol is officially evidence." Another knock.

"Fine." I bend over and pull my boot Derringer from the strap holster on my calf.

"Shawn, what the Hell!" Jules didn't see that coming!

"Did you really expect me to only have just one?" I go to my door finally at the third knock. "Get down." I tell her, motioning in sign as I tell her, making sure my point is across. I open the door slowly, cautiously with my gun still up.

"Hey Shawn." I pull the door the rest of the way open, putting my little pistol away. He must be used to protocol already.

"Hey buddy, what's up? I thought it was our day off."

"It is. I was hoping to get an extra workout in. I brought all my stuff." Gus pats his gym bag.

"I'm kinda doing something right now, buddy." I point into my apartment.

"Shawn, I got my folder recollected while you yap with Gus." Nice thinking Juliet! Except she doesn't have a... did she find my folder on the information I had before I left the case?

"Shawn, you're back on the case and didn't even think to tell me?!" Great, now he's pissed!

"Just this morning, buddy. Jules can be very persuasive. I mean come on, look at those eyes." Wow that blush is adorable...

"Great, what do we got?" Gus asks Jules, going to my table.

"Not much we didn't expect. The three guns were together, hired by a man they refused to give in." Jules informed us.

"Did you offer them a dope deal if they caved?" I ask, covering the basics.

"Yeah, a sweet one. They wouldn't budge."

"These guys must be really scared of this guy, then." Gus adds in.

"I guess so. Unless we figure out who hired them, we're dead in the water. We can't go barking up the governor's tree. He's got a few too many enemies to give us anything definitive." Jules rubbed a hand across her chin in thought.

"I think the mysterious caller has something to do with this. I'm sure of it. Gus, we're going to be showing up around the station a lot more. See if we can get this bastard's attention."

"You want US to bait him? You must be out of your damn mind!"

"Gus, this is the exact kind of thing you wanted to get into. This is what I'm training you for, and why I continue to train. This is the kind of thing we do now, Gus."

"Wait, what the Hell are you talking about? Jules asked in utter confusion, maybe some suspicion?

"Nothing, Jules. Me and Gus will start coming around again, see what we can bust open, see if we can draw anything out." I decided. "Maybe get some smoothies, take some dance lessons or make some yogurt."

"Shawn, again, what the Hell are you talking about?"

"Maybe I'm getting a little off topic. You all get the point though."

"Guys, I have to go. Carlton needs me back at the station. Mr. Spencer, don't think our previous conversation is over just yet." Juliet says in a warning tone. Was that for me or just an act for Gus?

"What was that all about?"

"I have no idea, buddy." I lied.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

I come home from, Gus behind me for a beer or two. What I did not expect to see, is a large, unmarked box sitting in front of my door.

Me and Gus walk up to the box, and Gus's first thought is to lightly kick it. "It didn't explode. That's a good thing, right?" Really Gus? You thought it'd explode? C'mon son.

I look around the hallway to see that no one's around. "Let's take it inside."

We take it inside, and Gus quickly jumps behind the couch, not trusting the box. Guess I'm opening this alone. I pull out my old Swiss Army knife and cut through the packing tape. Once I open the box, I see that Rex has come through. In a big way. "Gus, come here. Your real training starts today."

 **XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**

 **The plot's been thickening. Action and the Shules will soon be picking up!**

 **This chapter reminds me of the time I got a bunch of reviews on Stripes! Wait... I just hope that happens...**


	12. Some Nights Aren't All That Great

"Here Gus." I toss a Kevlar vest at him.

"What's this for?!" Gus questions, holding up the cammo vest.

"To protect you from these." I loosely explain, throwing two K-Bar knives at his feet, sheaths still over the blades.

"Shawn, what the Hell?!" He's sure in for a rude awakening.

"You're going to fight me." I tell him, putting on my own vest over my Dri-Fit performance t-shirt. "Leave the sheaths on so we don't cut each other up. Throw these on too." I toss him another bit of equipment. "Kevlar forearm guards. They'll stop a blade from cutting your hand off. Unless it's a large ax or claymore. Then you're fucked." I say honestly.

Gus stands up, geared and ready to go. Without another word, I jump at him, chopping high and coming down. Gus jumps to the side, dodging my attack. I side swipe this time, he tries to jump to the side again, but I catch him with a solid jab.

"Damn it, Shawn!" Gus yells at me, pissed that I got him.

"You can't just use the same weak evasion tactics. Step up the game, buddy. I gave you those K-Bars to fight, not to bust a move to 'Jump Around'." I shake my head. "Let's go again, and this time fight back."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Good job today, buddy. You still suck, but you're getting there." I praise him.

"How long am I going to have these bruises, Shawn?" Gus asks me with a pissed off voice.

"You'll get over it. Besides, once you get better, you won't get so many bruises." I jump up from my spot next to him on the floor, sticking a sweaty hand to help him up. A knock on my door(why am I so popular lately?) causes me and Gus to go into defense mode.

I go to the door, feeling like maybe I should leave the armor in case of trouble. But maybe take it off in case it's Terrance, my landlord. I'll leave it on...

"Jules!" I say surprised(why am I still surprised by her visits?), happy I have my knife tucked and hidden behind my forearm. "What brings you over?"

"I came by for lunch. I wanted to see if you were interested, but apparently, you and Gus are... what are you guys doing?" Jules asked with a scrutinizing yet interested face.

"Uh... nothing Jules. Nothing." I said awkwardly, taking off my gear quickly and throwing it at Gus, closing the door behind me. "Lunch sounds great." I beam at her, always happy for her company. This is going to sound really wussy... but I feel... special, appreciated when she seeks me out.

"Your going to lunch in shorts and a t-..." Why did Jules stop... I look down first at my legs to see what the problem is, then back to her face. I follow where her eyes are trained. Then it hits me what she's looking at. I look down at my arms. There's no point in running or hiding. She sees them. She'll probably run and hide.

"Shawn... what... what happened to you?" Her voice is barely a whisper. My breathe catches when she does something I don't expect. She reaches out slowly, her eyes trained on mine. I knew her eyes were blue, but damn...

Her fingers barely, just by a hair come in contact with one of the many scars that trace up and down the length of my arms, from my forearms to my shoulders. "War is Hell Jules. They just decided to send me home with some souvenirs." I tell her, just above a whisper myself. "This is why I always wear over shirts."

Her gaze left my eyes and went to my arms, scanning every inch, my skin on fire as her fingers trailed. "How much of you is like this?"

I close my eyes, almost unable to think, her fingers massaging my rough skin. Her hands go from my shoulder down to my sweat soaked, tight shirt. She found more scratchy skin under her. "Does that answer your question?"

"Shawn..." I put my finger to her lips before she can speak. A little bit at a time. A very little bit at a time. Her seeing my scars, already too much. "I'll go change." As I pull my finger away, I feel the slightest movement from her lips. Did she just ever so subtly kiss my finger tip? And if so, why does that tingly feeling actually happen? I always thought that was a myth.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Me and Jules said nothing to each other until we ordered and got our meals.

 _"How much longer till she runs away after seeing your arms, knowing how many scars you have? There's no way her view of you hasn't changed._ Welcome back, Sphinx. It's been a while.

 _"Man, sure she saw how fucked up your scars are. Hell, she even touched them. And she's still next to you, man. Sarge, everything's fine."_ Since when do they show up at the same time?

"Shawn? Shawn, are you okay?" Juliet asks me softly, her hand gently rubbing my back.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just a little tired, that's it." I rub a hand through my hair, not wanting to talk about my two memories that interact every day with me. I want to lean into Jules' hand, her touch, but if I do I know she'll feel the small raises and cuts on my back from agonizing beatings and whippings.

"Shawn?" Her voice is still soft. Either because she's about to ask something I don't want to think about, or for discretion. Which one... I have no fucking clue.

"Yes Jules?" I ask her pleasantly, letting her know I'm okay.

"That was serious, military grade equipment."

"Sure was." I say plainly, not making a big deal of it.

"When you said you meant to fight, you literally meant fight, didn't you?" Her eyes are trained on me hard, trying to pierce right through.

"Until I win or die. These people don't want me involved in this coming storm. It means if they think I'm going to be a problem to the point of foggy threats, it's something I'm going to want to fight." I pause a moment to wet my whistle with coffee. That's just fun to say.

My finger slowly goes to temple. The Spirits tell me you're worried. Whether it's for my safety or that you may have to try to bring me down, I can't say."

She looks at me a moment, her jaw slightly slacked. "If you're as serious as I think you are,"

"Oh trust me Jules, I am."

"You're not going to be acting completely within the law. And that always leads to trouble, Shawn." How long has her hand been covering mine? "I won't be able to stop you either."

"No, you can't." I won't lie to her about it. A man is dead and a government official had a chance on losing his life. I kicked the door open and stood in the middle of it.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Gus and I left Central Coast after a dreadfully boring day. I went to my bike but Gus hollered at me. "Shawn, get on and follow me. I have something to show you!" He seemed oddly excited.

I did as told, being the good little boy I was. Downtown and through the traffic to Gus's grandmother's house we go. Where the fuck are we going?

My question was answered when we pulled up to an office space that just two days ago said it was for rent. "Gus buddy, why would we care about this?" I ask suspiciously. I have my worries.

"Because we rent it now. If we both chip in with money from Central Coast, plus pick up some extra cases, we can have a cool place here!" Gus explains, as if that explained WHY WE NEEDED IT!

"What the fuck do we need it for?"

"We can use it as our office for the whole Psychic Detective thing. If we get enough shout outs in the news, we can start private cases!" Gus walks over to a wall at the other end of the office.

"You found a light switch that's not even by a doorway, good job!" I say in mock glee.

"Just you wait Shawn, watch this!" Gus flips the switch up and... Holy fuck that's cool! The wall just opened up to another room! Who the Hell does that?! I thought that was a TV thing! "Suck it, Shawn."

"Usually I would say 'no Gus, you suck it'. In this situation, I think I have to accept," I walk into the hidden room, seeing how spacious it is. This room is huge! "Is this room for..."

"Yup. Training, our gear, our entire vigilante set up. We have our own safe room, Shawn!" Gus dropped to his knees and began air pumping. I wasn't gonna do no damn air pumps! I'm not above dope scissor kicks though, adding in a "WHAAPAA!" at the end of the kicks for good measure.

After a quick celebration, we made a business plan and how we wanted to utilize this place. This beautiful sea front office to soon be called 'Psych'.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Hey buddy. Wanna talk?" I feel rough hands shaking me awake. The voice all too familiar.

"You're not real, leave me alone," I bury my face into my pillow.

"Oh come on Sarge. Don't be like that," Sphinx chuckles lowly in my ear. I could feel his breath. "I thought we were friends."

Laying and playing dead wasn't working tonight, it never did. I stand up and go to my kitchen, not giving a shit if he followed me or not. He always does. It's because of situations like these that I keep a bottle of Jack under my sink. It's my only cupboard Gus doesn't dig in.

"What can I do for you tonight, Martin?" I ask the man who stands in front of me only.

"I see you've been hanging out with Roman. Hope you didn't forget about poor little Sphinxie," Sphinx pouted, causing me to chuckle drily and hit the bottle again, cups be damned.

"Nah, I just like Roman better. He doesn't tell me to FUCKING KILL MYSELF!" I shout, wishing it was Roman instead.

"Roman always did like you better, Spencer. You were always his little pet," Sphinx spat.

"I'm sorry you're pissed at me for your death, but Roman was right," I throw my arms out, almost challenging the non-existing man. "It's war. People die, I made a mistake. Roman's PET even fucks up."

"THAT LEAD ME TO DIE!" he shouts louder than I've ever heard.

"THEN STAY FUCKING GONE! I'M SORRY BUT I CAN'T BRING YOU BACK!"

"THEN COME MEET ME!" Sphinx screams, charging forward, plowing himself into my gut shoulder first.

I lose my breath and the hold on my bottle, causing it to crash on the floor. "That was my last bottle," I tell the entity through gritted teeth before catching him with a right hook, sending him back.

"There's the Sarge I know. You've been working out lately," Sphinx rolls his neck and earns a crack. He tries to sweep my leg but I jump over it and come down with a fist to his temple. He kicks in my knee, causing me to cry out and send me to the ground, hitting me again. I roll over on top of him, strangling him as I get to my feet. He kicks me in the ribs with both feet, sending me through my coffee table.

I groan loudly, picking up a piece of shattered glass, holding it tight. He takes hold of my head and slams it into the floor and debris. I take my glass and bury it in his shoulder, causing him to let go and stand up.

"You're getting scrappy, aren't you Sarge?" Sphinx smiles wickedly at me before coming at me, my head still swimming and my body aching. He presses the glass to my neck. "Beg me to do it! You fucking want this! If you didn't this wouldn't be happening!"

I dig my knees into him and roll him over, the shard still to my neck. "DO IT, COME ON FUCKER!" I challenge, before I'm distracted by my front door being kicked open.

"Juliet?" I ask, my eyes narrowing, a sudden throbbing headache kicking in.

"Shawn!" she shouts, running and skidding through the debris to get me. "Shawn, no no no no no!" she repeats over and over. Her hands go to my hand, and I wonder what she's doing. I look down and see the glass is in my own hand.

"Juliet, I'm tired," I slur, being able to hear it myself. Exhaustion is bringing me down hard and fast.

"It's okay Shawn, it's okay. Please just put it down," Juliet begs me.

I open my hand to drop the glass, but my own blood keeps it stuck yo my hand a moment before Juliet slowly plucks it off my damaged hand.

"What happened?" I ask, looking around my apartment for Sphinx. Of course the fucker left when Jules showed up. "Why are you here?" I ask out of worry and interest.

"I had a call about a disturbance of the peace, possible domestic dispute. When I got your address I got here as soon as I could," Juliet explains as she analyzes my condition.

"I'm glad you're here Jules. Just in the nick of time," I slur, getting dizzier by the moment. I fall forward, my head resting on her shoulder.

"Shawn, Shawn come on. We need to get you cleaned up," Juliet tells me as if I could get up.

"I can't, I can't get up, Jules. I just can't," I say less than a whisper.

"Come on, Spencer," Juliet throws my bare arm over her shoulder and pulls me up, allowing me to use her as a 105 pound crutch. She brings me to my room and clumsily lays me on the bed. She can't help that, I'm 185 pounds of lean muscle and scar tissue.

"I'll be right back. Don't. Fall. Asleep," Jules tells me in a very serious voice.

"I give it about fifteen seconds," I tell her honestly.

She comes back in seven seconds with a warm wash cloth and a glass of water. "Shawn, please tell me what happened. Please don't tell me that was what I thought it was," she begged as she cleaned my hand which by the appearance of the clothe, had bled quite a bit.

"I'm sorry, Jules," was all I could muster before I dosed off.

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 **I've got nothing to say on this one.**


	13. Rudely Interrupted

My eyes open ever so slowly, afraid of the light that I know will soon kill my head. Fucking sun...

My eyes focus, and I see only blue eyes. I hope those are my favorite pair of blue eyes. "Hey." I say groggily, still in a fog.

"Hi." Juliet whispers, rubbing a hand gently through my hair.

"You've got to stop finding me like this, Jules." I remember the me drunk out of my mind thing.

"I know." she replies just as quietly, doing the Tarzan hand press with my good one. My heart beat rises ridiculously. "Shawn, I hate to press, but you REALLY need to talk about last night."

"We will, but can we just... lay here a little bit? I'm not fully good to go yet, ya know?" I know she deserves to know why her friend almost killed himself. I just don't think 'talking about it' is going to do a Hell of a lot of good for me. If I tell her what happened in my head, she'll never see me as a normal guy again. There's no way she does right now.

 _"She saw your scars and she's still watching after you. You almost killed yourself and she laid in your bed all night to be sure you were okay. She ain't gonna run, man."_

I shake my head and look away from Jules, facing Roman. "Thanks for the support, but where the fuck were you last night?"

"Shawn, who are you talking to?" Juliet's soft hand rests under my chin and guides it back to meet her worried gaze.

"Last night when you found me Jules, I was alone, but at the same time I wasn't. I don't just hear voices, Juliet." I close my eyes, I don't want to see her face when I tell her this. "I see them, too. They talk to me and I talk back. I can physically FEEL them, and no one else knows they're there." I open my eyes to see the look of judgement.

"Did they cause you to..." she trails off, unable to finish.

"They're in MY head Jules, they don't cause me to do anything but fight. All they say is in my head, but coming from him, makes it so much worse."

Juliet's hand never left my face, instead sliding from my chin to my cheek, playing with my scruff. "Are they always so cruel?"

"Sphinx is. Roman's the angel on my shoulder though. He's still alive as far as I know." I shrugged, trying to get a hold of myself, getting back to my usual self.

"So that was Sphinx last night? He wanted you to kill yourself?" Her brow furrowed and she frowned deeply, intertwining our hands. "Why would he want that?"

"Why would I want that?" I chuckled deeply. "That's a secret I can't yet let go of, Jules. It hurts me too much to tell anyone else. Gus doesn't even know."

"What are you afraid of? That we'll think less of you, that we'll leave you?" Juliet's face looked... hurt?

"Yes." I say in a shaky voice, my eyes unable to drop from hers.

"Hey, look up here, Spencer." Juliet orders, her voice becoming serious. "I don't know what happened over there Shawn, but you were at war. You did what you were ordered, and you did what you had to for survival. You survived, okay? Don't let anyone, even those voices tell you won't didn't deserve to."

What could I say to that? Would her tone change if she knew? Did I deserve to live when he died and I didn't stop it? "Do I though, Juliet?" My voice was a shadow of its usual self.

Juliet laid there unmoving, not even blinking as she stared into my eyes. Is she pissed? Before I could have a different thought, she rolls on top of me, ignoring the fact that I'm just in my boxers. I don't even have time to respond before her lips smash against mind and she grinds her hips into me. Where the fuck did this come from? "I want you to survive." Juliet whispers into my ear.

All bets are of when she slams into me with extra force. I snake my ankle around her skinny jean clad leg, hand under her neck and roll her over. "Someone else wants to live too." I chuckle, grinding myself into her earning a gasp for my trouble.

"I have a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card." Juliet giggles, her hand going to my waste band.

FUCKING COCK BLOCKING DOOR KNOCKER! "WHAT!" I yell with unmasked anger, lightly biting Jules' clothes covered breast but getting a satisfied moan regardless.

"Shawn?! We training or what?!" Of course it's Gus. He's gonna be sorry it's Telescoping Carbon Steel Bow Staff Day...

"GIVING ME ONE FUCKING MINUTE GUSTER! FUCK!" I didn't care! I wanted this, bad!"

"Shawn! Is everything okay? I got your back!" Gus shouts. Oh please... yup, he kicked in my door.

"Damn it Gus! I said wait a fucking minute!" I toss the closest article of floor clothing at Gus's head, causing him to screech like a bitch and fall backwards out of my room so I can get dressed.

"Jules, I'm sorry. I have an appointment to upkeep." I frown, buckling my belt.

"Can I come?" Jules bites her bottom lip, making me want to suck it into my mouth.

"I'm not sure it's your kind of thing, Jules..."

"I'm in shape, aren't I? I like a good work out." Juliet stands up and picks out a t-shirt that she seems to like from my closet.

"I don't think you appreciate melee sweapons training." I kiss her quickly, taking the shirt and putting it on, briefly getting my head stuck.

"If you and Gus are training up for this prize fight we don't know anything about, shouldn't I too?"

"Jules, you're a bad ass cop, isn't that enough? He'd be an idiot to come near you." I chuckled, throwing on my favorite button up.

"Shawn, you're ex-military and this guy wants both barrels of you."

"He can have it too. He can have all he can handle." I opened my arms in open challenge. "It's been a while since I added a new picture to my wall of fame." I motion to my torso. I keep my mindset like this as much as possible, I can't let this shit get to my head. I have to stay focused, stay on top. If I don't they get in my head and game over.

"Jules... where do we stand right now?"

Juliet paused a moment. I'm not entirely sure she knew what had happened. "Are you ready to let someone take care of you, to be there for you?"

"Juliet, I'm not worth that kind of effort." I whisper from my bedroom doorway before making my exit with a very confused Gus.

"Come on Gus, we're going to the office."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Again Gus, don't just use it like a baseball bat. It's a lot more versatile than that. It's got the ability to be a double sided baseball bat!" I spun it around my head in a very controlled movement. "Hold it by the leather grip in the middle and use both ends."

"I preferred the knives, Shawn." Gus said panting. "They're smaller and so much lighter."

"Those are close range, Gus. That's hand to hand stuff. These bow staffs are more for larger groups and larger melee weapons, like bats and crowbars."

"Do you really think we'll need these?" Gus questions, trying his own spin.

"I've needed it before, Gus. Roman taught me to use bow staffs in Afghanistan for when we would do infiltration missions. We'd go in, use silenced weapons at a distance and go in with bow staffs for closer quarters where AK-47s and M-4s didn't have room to be accurate."

"Okay, fine. Here I come!" Gus lunged earlier than I expected. I caught him off guard though. I pole-vault over Gus's head, coming down behind him and sweeping his leg.

"If you have the room, don't be afraid to use it as an evasion tool. The bow staff is good for more than you know." I instruct as I help him up.

"Shawn, we've been at this for two hours." Gus informs me, resting on his bow staff.

"Are you drop dead exhausted yet?"

"Damn near!"

"Then we have another half hour. Again!"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Spencer." I answer my burner. The only people with my burner number is Gus, the SBPD, and Jules.

"Shawn."

"Jules, this better be an emergency. Unless you meant to call my personal phone. And if you did, what purpose might you be calling that phone for?" I hope she could here the playfulness in my voice. I was laying it on pretty thick though. I am serious however, this is business only phone. And not Central Coast business.

"I didn't call for your mixed signals, Shawn. We have a body." That was straight forward enough. "I'll give you details at the scene."

"I'll call Gus and be there in a minute. Thanks, Jules."

"Oh and Shawn?"

I roll my eyes at Juliet's inability to relay a message in one shot. It's adorable, really. "Yes Jules?"

"Did you sleep okay?" Her voice was quiet and concerned.

"Ya." I say curtly, not much to say about it.

"You're not lying, are you?"

"Jules, the only thing I could think about all night was this morning." I told her honestly.

"The fun part, or the part where you ran out on me?"

"Jules, I don't want to do this over the phone. I'll see you in a few, as soon as you tell me where the scene is."

I hung up with Jules after a quick address and called up Gus. "Buddy, we got a body. Meet me at Psych. Bring wheel cases for our gear."

"You think we'll need it?"

"Better safe than unarmed, right?"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Francis Turner. Known drug dealer and all around scum bag. Just got out of prison yesterday. Someone didn't want him out." Lassiter gives what he figures. I have to agree with him.

"Getting anything, Shawn?" Juliet asked hopefully, but not too loud.

"Yes. I think Turner here is related to our last case. If we can find out more about Turner, we can find more on the last guy... What's His Face. I don't remember. Gus? Anything?"

"Really Shawn? You remember everything, how can't you remember that?" I get fuzzy memoried on the days I get bombed out wasted, okay? Happens to the best of us.

"I also sense, as illegal as this was, douche bag here had it coming." I tell it like it is guys. Drug dealers are as bad as murderers in my book.

"What jumped into your pantyhose, Spencer?" Lassie asked me with an amused smile.

"Lassie, I feel that you agree with me on this."

"Maybe a little, Spencer. I just enjoy seeing you on Planet Life Sucks every now and then instead of your own little fantasy world." If he knew what my 'little fantasy world' was, he'd shut the fuck up. Nothing against Lassiter here, but he shouldn't be too quick to judge a book.

"O'Hara, do the usual. Scan his phone, we'll get a warrant to check his living quarters for anything that could help. Spencer, as much as I hate to offer... I need your... whatever the Hell it is."

"Lassie, the Spirits would love to tag along and catch all the things you'll miss." Honestly, I've missed figuratively slapping around Lassie.


	14. What Is It, Your First Day?

The four of us met up at the house of our victim, Francis Turner. I don't think we'll need the gear for this, but who knows where we'll be after the house? If I need to slap up some shit heads for what I want, I fucking will!

Lassiter opened the front door and simply strolled in like he owned the place. I on the other hand, walked in at a much slower pace, taking my time to look at this place.

I spent as much time watching my step as I spent looking at the house. The place was a damn pig sty. Bottles, clothes and garbage were all over the damn place. I'd be lucky if I didn't get stuck with a dirty needle.

"My God, this place is nasty!" Gus wrinkles his nose in deep disgust. "How can anyone live in a house this trashed? You do it, but not all the time!" Gus points at me.

"Thanks for that shot, Benedict Arnold." I roll my eyes at Gus being an insensitive dick.

"I'm shocked you know who that is, Shawn."

"Gus, I swear I will snap your back in seventeen places and you won't even know till you try to stand up the next morning!" I shout.

"Ladies, can we please focus?" Lassie brings us back. "The guy's house is a mess. He doesn't respect himself or property. He probably uses as well as deals."

"I'd be willing to bet. Gus, see what you can find with Lassie. Jules, would you care to see if we can find anything in his bedroom with me?" With the skeptical looks I received, I figured I'd better explain that one. Okay, just what I expected to find. "Personal letters or correspondents. Planner or contact list."

"Yeah, let's see what we can find." Juliet briefly smiles before coming over to me, the two of us going to the door with a 'KEEP OUT' sign.

Juliet closes the door behind her quietly, inconspicuously. "Is this whole house disgusting?"

"I'm pretty sure it is." I agree, brushing a sock off a lamp shade.

"I'm assuming you brought us here to talk?"

"While we search, Jules. We can multitask, can't we?"

"Shawn, what's up?" Juliet brings us back to topic, though I keep looking through anything that isn't stuck together or slimy.

"This guy is connected, Jules. I don't know how, and I don't have proof yet. He's another part of this puzzle, which means things are going to be getting dangerous. You need to be careful." I monologue, being serious as possible.

"If you think you're the target, Shawn, what does that mean for us? For you?" Juliet asked, a cautious look on her face.

"I think it would be better... damn it Jules, I just want to be so selfish here." I say through gritted teeth. I know what I want, and I know what I can't have. Juliet fits both of those bills.

"Then be selfish, Shawn!" Juliet urges me. "We'll be okay. I'm not worried, or at least I won't be if I know you're there."

"If they find out we're together, and you get hurt because of it, I'm not sure I could live with that. There's too much as it is, keeping me from sleeping at night." I stand behind Juliet, her form bent over and searching through a nightstand drawer. When she stands up, my arms wrap around her waste and my lips find her neck. Her skin is SO. SOFT!

"Let me help you sleep better at night." Juliet nuzzled into me, her nose brushing against my stubble. "Look what I found." In her hands sits a small black notebook. She opens it to find a product list, names and numbers and addresses. "Good call on checking the bedroom, Shawn." Juliet kisses my jaw and walks off with the notebook.

That little glimpse was all I needed for sucking it all in. I knew what I had to get done starting tonight. The first contact is about to get a fist full of Spencer and his black friend! ... That doesn't sound intimidating at all. I need a name for me and Gus if we're going to do this middle of the night crusading shit.

"We found something, Carlton." Juliet announced calmly.

"She found something, I was just there." I said truthfully, earning a beautiful smile.

"Well what is it?" Lassiter asked harshly, not feeling patient today, apparently.

"It's a book with his contacts. Meeting dates, names, numbers, everyone this guy is associated with."

"Nice find, O'Hara!" My jaw is falling open against my will! Holy fuck! They actually high fived!

I casually walked over to Gus, also watching in awe. "Guess what we're doing tonight, buddy." I whisper, almost inaudible to Gus himself.

"You know that's right!" Gus whispers back as we connect the legendary fist bump.

"Fight till you make it."

"Load, lock and hammer." Gus finishes our adopted slogan.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Night falls and we suit up, khaki pants and performance shirts on. Kevlar vest incase shit gets real, with hoods and those half mask things at hospitals, but these are black canvas. We have to hide who we are against the people who might try to fuck us up off guard. The people I'm worried about, already know me.

The arm guards and weaponry were last to go on. We both had a belt of ten small throwing daggers, Gus had two K-Bar knives and the carbon steel bow staff. I preferred a K-Bar and a military issue tomahawk. For all you Call of Duty players out there, I like it for MELEE!

when used right, we could easily win a fight and not even have any dead bodies to take care of! How sweet is that, right?

"Gus, we can't take the Blueberry to a drug dealer's house, man." It's not happening, not when we look this dope.

"We're not going to take your bike, Shawn. I'm not holding you tight!"

"I have an idea!" I shout, as I pull out my keys. "Meet me at my apartment."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Gus finally gets to my place, turning off the engine to his little piece of shit. "Shawn, how'd you get here so fast?"

"Because I go the speed limit, and occasionally over. Just a little bit." I swear this guy drives ten under. It drives me NUTS! "Come here." I lead Gus to a door that brings us to the apartment's shared garage complex... building... thing.

"You have a car?" Gus asks as I walk to a forest green 1996 Dodge Dakota.

"Of course I do Gus. C'mon son!" I shake my head in disbelief. This guy... "This is my emergency vehicle."

"When did you buy this?" Gus asks like he's pissed.

"I didn't BUY it, Gus." I roll my eyes at him. "I won it in a raffle a while ago, about before I left." Only drove it twice! I'm quite proud of that fact.

"So we're taking a barely used raffle truck to fight crime?" What was so hard to believe about, honestly?

"Uh, yeah. Why?"

"Nothing. It just seems a little random." Gus shrugs.

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, Shawn. Super heroes don't drive random ass cars they just keep on hand." So that's what it was!

"Gus, we're not super heroes. We're just a pair of dudes out to fight crime and fuck shit up with above average training and fighting skills. The cool gear no one else has just helps." Oh fuck. You've got to be kidding me.

"See Shawn, superheroes." He's right, no matter how much I didn't want to look at it that way. We're pretty much FUCKING SUPERHEROES!

"Just get in the damn truck."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

We pull up to the house on the bottom of the list. Everyone starts at the top.

This house is shitty and decrepit like the first. So much for drugs being easy money. Guess you have to be at the top then... Let's get this going, shall we.

I take a throwing dagger and send it through a front window of the house, cracking the glass. With a running start I jump, tuck and roll right into the living room. Gus is close behind, choosing to jump over the window sill and land on his feet.

"Dude, how'd you do that?" I'm honestly impressed.

"I was in track during highschool, remember?" Oh yeah, he totally was.

"Douche bag must have heard that. He'll come looking, and he's probably armed.

"H-hello?" Really dude? You're a shaky voiced wuss? Gus and I feel surprise is key to any operation, so cover and a good jump scare should do the trick. Especially on Captain Piss Pants here.

Our target Jerry Koslow, walks into the room painfully slowly. A shot gun is in his hand but not raised. Looks like a simple sawed off. Gus and I both jump up, each with a throwing dagger.

How we can be on the same page so often is pretty feckin' dope. It's like twinstincts without the twin part. The two of us had daggers in hand before hurling them at the man who was beginning to wake up a little more.

It wouldn't do him much good to wake up, my dagger knocking the gun from his hand and Gus's dagger hitting his hand. "Ow, fuck!" Jerry shouts, holding his hand. "What the Hell is this?"

"We know who you are, Jerry. We know what you do. Turn yourself in our this could be a long night, aright?" I try to get him to give in nice and easy.

"What, what do you mean?"

"Man, are you just playing dumb, or are you actually dumb?" I'm not used to that from Gus. Must be the gear...

"You're a low down fucking, life ending, drug peddling piece of shit. If you don't want us to beat your ass, you're gonna tell us how you're involved in the Turner murder."

"Turner... Turner as in like, Francis Turner? He's dead?" This guy is a good actor, he doesn't know.

"Yes, Turner is dead. Obviously you know. So you better let us know what you know, if you know what's best for you, you know!" I slip another dagger between my index and middle fingers.

"I don't know much about him. He's a dealer who gets his shit from the same supplier, alright." Jerry throws up his arms.

"Who's your supplier?" I demand, and Gus throws a dagger between his feet.

"Fuck! Alright man! Just stop fuckin' whippin' knives! Fuck!" Jerry composes himself as me and Gus fist bump.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Is something touching my head? Yup, there is most definitely a hand running through my hair. It's soft, it's small. Jules just let herself in?

"Yes Jules?" I ask groggily, slowly rolling over to face her.

"Shawn, we just got a call about a break in. An old lady said two hooded figures were breaking into her neighbor's house. We go there to find a very distraught home owner."

"Maybe he was distraught because someone broke into his house at..." I roll over and check my phone for the time. "4:26 am."

"He said he was interrogated at knife point by two hooded and well armed men." Juliet finishes the story that I already knew.

"Point of the story being?" I ask, seeing where she wants to take it.

"What were you doing at Jerry Koslow's, Shawn?" I feel like she should be pissed, but she doesn't sound pissed, and she keeps rubbing my head.

"Koslow was an associate to Turner, they had the same supplier." I explain me and Gus's midnight run. "Koslow didn't know Turner is dead. Koslow had nothing to do with it, but is still a dirty piece of shit on the bottom of my shoe."

"Shawn, why are you on such a personal crusade? You have as big a war on drugs as Carlton does on straight up murder." Juliet asks in honest interest.

"When I was in Afghanistan, Jules... we were called into a piss hole of a village. The population couldn't have been more than 2,000. This little village was owned by a drug and war lord that had five other towns just like it. He bought them with force and drugs, Jules. Men, women and children were addicted and owned by their diseases."

I'm sitting up now, and Juliet rubs my back softly, her hands brushing over scars from my time in extremist captivity. "He paid his soldiers with just enough to live, and bought whatever else he wanted with the hard stuff and influence."

"Shawn, I've heard of things like that, but I didn't know it really happened, was happening." Jules leaned her head on my shoulder and it was my turn to play with her hair.

"We turned that town inside out and backwards, Jules. We fought half that fucking town, Jules. They armed men and even kids against us." I stop talking. Fuck this hurts! Who the fuck gives children, CHILDREN, guns and has them fight?

Juliet doesn't say anything, she just stares at me. What do you say to that?

 _"Don't say anything, man. You just told your girl you're a fucking kid killer."_

"Shut up, man. Not now." I tell Sphinx allowed.

 _"Ooh, talking to me in front of her? That's new."_

"I said fucking stop!" I shout, pulling my hair. I really don't need this right now.

"What's going on, Shawn?" Juliet asks, worry clouding her face.

"Sphinx. He's the voice in my head that doesn't let me forget. He keeps me from... happiness. He's the reason I can't sleep most nights. Why I wake up laying in my furniture instead of on it." I lower my head through that speech, unable to take the look of judgement I expect to be there.

Her finger rests on the underside of my chin, and slowly turns my head towards her, blue eyes watching me.

"I have to do what I do. I can't watch Santa Barbara become the same thing I fought, the same thing my friends and fellow soldiers had died for. Not here, not in the home of the free and the land of the brave." I further explain, meaning it with all my heart and soul.

"Okay. Let us do it together, Shawn. You're way, and the SBPD way." Juliet slowly pushes me down by my shoulders and lays down next to me, her head on my shoulder and hand resting on my chest. I can it riding and falling along with my breathing.

I kiss her forehead, and watch as she smiles brightly at me, her eyes meeting mine now. "You're going to have to do a lot better than that, Mr. Spencer." Juliet kisses me soundly, her tongue instantly telling me what she wants. Who am I to say no?

As our tongues dance, my hand slides up under her shirt and I heavily enjoy messaging her flesh under the lace bra that I can easily picture in my mind, playing with her... you know what? This ain't your business.

 **XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**

 **I've never done a sexy times post, so I don't know how you guys would feel about me doing one for you... I'll make you a deal. Review and tell me whether you're cool with it or not. If you are, next chapter will start where I left off.**

 **Also I must apologize for the super slow update. Superpsych is now in college! It's a lot of work, plus a part time job... I don't have a lot of free time. I'm really sorry guys. I promise I'll keep trying though.**


	15. My Damp, Only Towel

**Welcome back to Stripes, everyone. Sorry about the wait, but as earlier said, I'm very busy trying to be an adult and all that crap.**

 **As a quick warning, two really... there be smut ahead. My very first try at it, so be gentle If I'm horrible at it...**

 **XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**

 _I kiss her forehead, and watch as she smiles brightly at me, her eyes meeting mine now. "You're going to have to do a lot better than that, Mr. Spencer." Juliet kisses me soundly, her tongue instantly telling me what she wants. Who am I to say no?_

 _As our tongues dance, my hand slides up under her shirt and I heavily enjoy massaging her flesh under the lace bra that I can easily picture in my mind, playing with her... you know what? This ain't your business._

Her moan is music to my ears, the most beautiful sound I have ever heard. Any thought of fast forwarding our little story is out the window now. I can't cut out the fun details, right?

I'm brought back to the present by her tongue sliding across my lips, urging me to keep going. I feel the slightest burn from where she had been, the warmth being tingling and delightful.

"You've been eating mint chocolate chip again, Jules?" I ask playfully, earning a nip on my earlobe.

"I was off duty and work's been stressful, okay?" Juliet grumbles into my ear. I'm not letting the mood break, not this time. Sphinx is screaming his head off, but my lips on Juliet's neck, my hand on the small of her back, keeps me grounded. Sphinx is little more than a muffle.

 _"Let's give these two crazy kids some privacy, huh?"_ Roman snaps his fingers and all I can feel is me and Jules... peace. Finally I can focus on the body holding me to her.

"Nothing to get defensive about, my little Aphrodite. You're delicious." I whisper into her ear, appreciating the way just simple words can cause Jules to press herself further up into my body. There's no way she can't feel what she's doing to me.

"I get to taste you too, right?" I gasp loudly, her question and her hand palming me having a double effect.

"No, not tonight. Because tonight, I want to focus on you, to drive you wild. You've given me so much in the last few weeks, Jules. Hope, comfort, caring, understanding, compassion." With every word I press a kiss lower down her neck and undo a button of her navy blue silk shirt. Her bra finally comes into view. I expected white or maybe peach, but that black lace staring at me had me breathless.

I drop my mouth to her collar bone, appreciating the way her breath hitches as my hands grab her firm ass. I knew she had a nice one from looking at it, but the feel is such a sweet bonus.

She hooks her leg with mine, grinding into me, causing my mouth to open in pleasure. Juliet decides not to be my play thing as she plunders my mouth, me still off guard from the sensational pressure being applied between my legs.

"You seem pretty ready, Shawn. Scale of one to ten, where are you?" She asks with a smile, her hand finding my ass.

"Seventeen." I reply simply, flipping her on her back and pressing myself between her legs. "Way too much clothing, baby." I smile down at her, my index finger trailing down from just below her bust line to her waist.

"Are you going to do something about it, or just point out the obvious?" Juliet leans up and that devilish tongue licks from my Adams apple to my chin. There are those shivers I didn't think existed until now.

"Slide up the bed, and I'll show you exactly what I'm going to do about it." I purr, watching as she ever so slowly does as told. That's my girl.

Juliet is now leaning on the headboard, her eyes taking on a curious look as I slowly crawl up the bed, loving those blue eyes I'm locked in on.

Her question is answered when my lips start at the forehead, and go down to that adorable little nose of hers. We meet in an open mouth kiss before I journey to Jules' chin and then to her neck. I know I'm doing it right when those small hands begin to lightly tug my hair.

She cranes her neck so I can have more access, and I take that pass willingly with little nips and hard but quick sucks to perfect, slightly tanned skin. So soft, smooth and perfect.

I'm back at her collar bone and audible gasps are again pouring from her full pink lips. I attach my mouth to that pesky but sexy black bra, sucking hard and slow to ensure that Juliet is feeling it. Her arching body and hardening nipples tell me it is.

My hand snakes behind her back and I unclasp it, taking my sweet ass time removing it. I move my focus of attack to shoulder, kissing and worshipping her skin as I follow the thin little bra straps down her arms, pushing her shirt sleeves with it.

Finally I fully remove the bra and shirt, throwing them wherever they may fall. Little pebbled peaks are on display for my eyes alone.

"Shawn..." is all Juliet can mutter as my tongue sluggishly circles her left nipple, my hand gently massaging her other breast.

Her hands press my head harder down, so in return I nip and suck to earn myself a little yelp. My tongue picks up speed as that angelic sound encourages me. My free hand begins a slow journey south before undoing her jeans button.

"Shawn!" Jules says a bit louder as I rub her core over her tight blue jeans. I use both my hands to slide the form fitting garment lower.

I make eye contact with those pristine pools of blue. "Are we really about to do this?" Juliet's voice is softer than ever before.

"If you want to stop, now is the time to speak up." That's her out, I gave her a shot.

"Shawn Spencer, if you stop I will handcuff you to this bed and do whatever the fuck I want to, no matter what you say." Her voice is back to confident and commanding, fuck is it sexy!

"Can we play that game later?" I ask hopefully, imagining how that's gonna go in my head. Fingers wrap around me over my boxers, so I'm going to take that as a Hell yeah, or shut the fuck up. Yup, the pumping tells me it's focus time.

As she goes to work on me with her hand, I go back to those wonderful breasts, enjoying her nipple between my teeth. She pushes me up long enough to slide my boxers off before pulling me back down with her legs wrapped around my smaller back.

Our lips meet again with fury as I begin to grind into her black panties that matched her discarded bra.

I can feel her fighting to hold on as I push and rub harder against the fabric. The once dry material is now soaked with her anticipation. "Stop fighting, baby." I whisper as I pick up my pace, dry fucking her harder.

"Damn it, Shawn!" Juliet squeals as her first orgasm rips through her, forcing her off the bed before I pin her back down with my hips.

"Take this fucking thing off already." Juliet peels off the doused piece of clothe, the last part of either of our coverings. I watch with amusement as the black vessel sails across my room and lands on the door knob. "Game on, babe." Juliet rolls us over, her on top now.

Her head lowers and she captures my lips, being nowhere near shy of bashful when it comes to going for the inside. We both sigh appreciatively at the sensation of sweaty skin rubbing on glistening skin.

My hands slide down her back and kneed her ass like it's the finest dough, loving the skin and the softness. Now it's her turn to rub her exposed self on my fully excited member. Fuck is she warm and slick! I can feel my eyes rolling back in my head as our movements force me inside of her for the first time, causing both of us to grunt and cry out each others' names.

Juliet shoots up and her back straightens as I give one really powerful thrust. I take advantage and sit up myself, fucking her with all I have as she holds on for dear life in my lap.

"Fuck Shawn, this isn't fair. My turn!" Before I can understand what's going on, she slides off me, my tip just barely touching her at all. She turns around, hovering over me before she slams back down. I see stars and she screams. I grab hold of her thighs and start drilling with new strength, Juliet meeting me half way for near perfection.

I slip my leg around hers and I flip us again, belly to back. This is a Hell of a lot of fun, but we should probably hold off on the gymnastics for now.

Juliet kicks her legs up to dig her feet into my ass, and her hands grasp the sheets as we continue to press into each other.

By this point, I'm so fucking close it's almost uncomfortable. It's like a heavy weight in my lower stomach, waiting to explode out.

"Shawn, Shawn here I GO!" Juliet tenses up and her muscles flutter as she goes off the edge a second time.

"Oh sweet!" I don't even have time to finish that sentence before I feel a shutter coming and my dam finally breaks. The tension releases in bursts and I collapse ungracefully on her before rolling off.

I'm not sure what to make of this until I see the very pleased smile on Jules' face. "When was the last time you had any that good?" Juliet asks through a giggle.

"If I ever told you I've had better, you would have just had crazy sex with a liar."

This reply brings an even bigger smile as she kisses me soundly. Juliet hums and rests her head on my shoulder, her finger traces the various scars along my chest.

"Where does this leave us, Shawn? Was this just..." Juliet pauses as two separate whirring sounds break the near silence.

We both remember the world is still outside. Two nearly identical texts. _"Clean bank job. Forget the station in the morning."_ Juliet reads her message allowed. Two nearly identical texts.

"We still have... four hours of cuddling." I try to cheer her up.

"Then a whole day of catching them bad guys too." Juliet says in false bravado.

"I'll take what I can get." I mumble almost inaudibly before my eyes slowly drop shut, Juliet seemingly in a similar state.

30 Seconds To Mars was all I could hear through my ear buds as I finished my shoulder taps for the morning work out. Jules was already in the shower which was cool by me as long as I still had hot water.

The Kill ends and I jump up ready for a shower then a day of whoopin' ass!

I turn around to see Juliet in only a towel, watching me with a smile. "I could tell you work out."

"Get dressed. We have things to do, and because of the time, neither of us are on that list." I laugh. "I need that shower you're in front of anyway."

"Should I meet you there so we don't look suspicious?" she suggests.

"That'd probably be a good thing. Also, I don't know how you feel about motorcycles."

 **XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**

 **Well... that's my first crack at sexy times. If it was really bad, I'm really sorry! I'll never do it again, I swear!**

 **As for storyline, not really a lot going on, except a big ole' Shules milestone and the set up for the next chapter. I like bank jobs, what can I say!**

 **Please review and don't destroy me!**


	16. Sometimes, You Just Have To Hurt People

The gang is all there when I duck under the tape and enter the bank of the lobby. Very plush, I must say I'm impressed."What's up guys?" I ask gleefully as if I'm not late or something. Not like I have a contract or anything, right?

"Spencer, late to the party as always!" Lassie shouts in mock happiness and surprise.

"Lassie boy, there wasn't even a party till I walk in." He makes it too easy, I swear. "Okay, so bank robbery. Guys actually got away without a crazy hostage and SWAT situation?"

"Yeah, night job. We didn't even know they had been in till the morning crew opened up." Jules explained as we made it to the counters.

"What do we have so far? Anything?" Gus takes off his glasses like that tool from CSI Miami.

"Military grade explosives to bust the vault. We assume they cracked bank security to disable the alarms. These guys are good." Lassie runs off at the mouth about whatever he thinks or knows. It's kind of entertaining sometimes.

"So we have the how and the when. But the who's who is still out to lunch. Like the bear that breaks into the garbage and escapes before you can blame it on him. Before you can point, he's down the block at someone else's poor garbage."

"Spencer, what the Hell are you rambling about?" Lassie looks at me like I'm high. I did that shit once. Never again.

"Wait, so it's not Say Whatever the Hell We Feel Like, Even If We Get At For Not Making Sense Even If It Actually Does Day?"

"That's way too long a name to be an actual calendar day, Shawn." Fuck Gus and his corrections!

"Okay, how about this? You All Can Suck It Day! But not you Jules, you're not invited. You didn't do anything to deserve the kid's table of holidays." Much to her credit, Jules didn't even say anything. She stood back and giggled until a knife from her partner's glare made her stop. I could kill him for that...

"All games aside, Spencer. Can you get any psycho garbage, or no?" Nobody likes a skeptic.

"The SPIRITS are a little muffled, and not just by your blatant disrespect." I need to look at some stuff, touch some shit, see if I can't get Gus to lick anything. It's a process.

Lassie and Jules went to do "actual police work" while Gus and I "snooped and prodded".

This looked clean. Whoever these guys were, they knew their shit. They knew it to the point where they left NOTHI... what is that?

"Shawn, you need to see this." Gus holds out a tiny paper.

 _Spencer,_

 _You got a dealer, congratulations. Did we step up our game enough for you?_

What the fu... why the Hell would they knock off a bank? Just to challenge me? To assert their dominance? "Buddy, I think we may actually have to show this to Jules and Lassiter." I say in defeat. I don't mind sharing with Jules, but Lassiter is such a control freak.

"No man, we can do this shit ourselves. We got that drug dealer last night. We can handle this!" God is Gus stubborn. "I know my training isn't done, but I'm getting better! We're like Batman and Robin, but Robin's gonna get on Batman's level." I actually appreciated that one.

"Gus, don't be the little kid who thinks they're not going to the toy store because he goes to Wal-Mart first. And let's be real, in this day and age it's the same thing."

"So... we're going to go kick ass?" Gus asks doubtfully. Oh how naive he really is.

"Yes Gus, once we're done here, we're going to go kick ass... depending on how this goes."

"Lassie! In the vault!" I call for the awkward Irishman.

"What is it now Spenc... what is that?" I love when he gets that utterly confused face.

"You may want to read this, man." I hand over the note and watch as Jules reads it with him, over his shoulder.

"Why do they know you, and why did they call you out?" I can actually understand why Lassie would be suspicious this time. This does look a little weird...

"Shawn, what do they want with you?" Juliet's hands covered her face in worry. These guys were good, really fucking good. They weren't low life criminals we could follow an easy trail to. They knew me, owned the usual scum, and had technology along with military grade weapons? I told Jules we were going to war.

"Spencer!" Lassie shouted at me and Gus waived his hand in my face, breaking my trance. "What. Do. They. Want?"

"They, whoever 'they' are, want me out of the picture." I'll give a little ground. Lassie deserves that much, but I won't give him a lot. I can't.

"What picture? And why you? Who would be threatened by YOU?" Oh Lassie, if you only knew how bad ass I actually was. And how bad ass Gus will be!

The look on Juliet's expressive face seemed to apologize for her partner's ignorance of me. But that's not his fault. I hide it and make myself look like a joke. That war face is as good as my real war face.

"Lassie, my dear, sweet, closet pub brawler, if I knew who these people were, I'd be paying them a visit real soon." Another baited hook that ends traceless. All we can really do is wait, fight off their little pieces as they come at us, or hope for the tiniest of slip ups.

"So what do we do?" Gus asks, seeing as little as us.

"We can't do anything. We don't have any leads, no witnesses, no prints. Just this damn note." Lassiter crumples it up and drops it back to the vault floor. "We can't do shit." he says as he storms out of the room. Juliet gives me a pleading look before exiting as well.

What did that look mean? Please be careful? Please do something? We're doing everything we can. It's too early in the game to be getting decisive leads. I know that, maybe Carlton is just impatient.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Good job, Gus. You took that hit without crying like a little bitch." I pat Gus on the back, happy to see him coming along in big strides. "You still need some bow staff work, but your mixed martial arts are coming along really well."

"How long before you stop completely whooping my ass, Shawn?" Gus said, jumping to his feet.

"Probably never. I do have some experience up on you." I shrug, telling the truth. "You're better than the average pieces of shit and better than most of the hired muscle we'll find in this town."

That tone, that familiar tone... It's the work phone! "Spencer."

"Shawn, you can't tell Lassiter I called you. We need your help."

"Okay Jules, what's wrong?" I hadn't heard her like this since the 'almost killed myself' incident.

"We got a domestic despute call. It turned out to be more than that. It turned into four men breaking into one of their ex-girlfriend's house. They have her and are doing only God knows what to her until she gives them money or whatever." Juliet rattled off quicker than possible.

"It's too dangerous to just barge in the front door, huh?" I ask, assuming that's why they haven't done it.

"Can you get in there and see what you can do?"

"We'll do our best, Jules. I'll take Gus with me." I listened patiently as she told me what to expect and what we didn't know. After receiving the address, Gus and I went straight for the old truck since we were already geared up from training.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Gus and I finally came to the house, parking a block away or so to not be seen.

We find ourselves hiding low behind behind a small stone wall in front of the house. "Gus, can you pick that lock?" I whisper. I'll have to teach Gus sign language, too.

"Is it because I'm black, or because you think I still get Safe Crackers' Weekly?" Gus challenges, though we both know the answer... I've seen his magazine stash.

"Can you or can't you?"

"C'mon son! You know I can." Gus and I fist bump before crouching to the front door, over cement steps.

I wait patiently for Gus to win the little battle against the door. That little battle would be a large step to the real fight. With the door now open, we ever so gently sneaked inside.

As soon as I entered the house, I could hear the muffled cry of a woman. "Upstairs." I point above us before I take out my K-Bar and tomahawk. I'm not expecting them to come quietly.

Gus and I get to the top, and what we see... a partially closed door, a bit of light and a pair of squirming, naked legs.

Without a warning to Gus, I run in, trading my K-Bar for a dagger, hurling it straight to the back of the man pinning down the poor girl. I launch myself at another man who holds a gun. I stand up and pin him to a wall as I see Gus dodging wild swings from a sloppy baseball bat attack.

Gus rolls under a backhand shot and slices the man's leg, making him cry out. A hard elbow to the base of the neck drops him.

A fourth man tries to run. He's unarmed and physically uninvolved. Possible the group leader? I head-butt the man I'm pinning to the wall, knocking him out. "Stay with the girl." I plead with four words as I take off.

He climbs out the window and I'm right on his tail. He takes the fire escape all the way down. I decide to go air borne like I so enjoy, coming down in a wrestlingish maneuver, planting him head first into the grass. "Hey there, mother fucking!" I say in an unsettlingly cheerful manner.

He's lays powerless under my steel toe boot while I call Jules. "Hey there blonde beauty."

"Shawn? What's the news?" she asks cheerfully. Pssh! As if she doesn't already know!

"Come and collect, Jules. The threats are contained and neutralized, and the subject is secure." I tell her in my old professional mission voice.

"Have I ever told you how hot you are when you get all down to business like that?" Now that I know Juliet wasn't going to hurt me because of who I am, I REALLY enjoy our flirting.

"How about you come over and show me?" I play back.

"Dude, are you seriously doing this in front of me, RIGHT AFTER kicking my ass?" The douche asks from below.

"You're fucking right! You're on my time now, Jack!"


	17. Three On One Isn't Fair

**Please welcome Keira Knightley as Madison!**

 **On a larger note, this one included, there are only four episodes left in this season of Stripes. Yes, I said season.**

 **XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX**

Gus and I pull into Santa Barbara General after we had time to shower… separately you sick bastards… and get back into civilian clothes. We wanted Jules and Lassie to have enough time to take care of their shit too. All that boring paperwork and stuff, you know?

"Did the girl talk to you at all, Gus? Did she say anything important?" I ask hopefully as we go through the sliding automatic doors.

Gus pauses for a minute, trying to wrack his mind. "I don't think so, at least nothing I could understand. She was crying a lot, and I started crying, then she just kept saying 'thank you, thank you' over and over until you told me to get out of there."

My fruitless talk with Gus came to an end when we came to the receptionist's desk in the main lobby of the hospital. It wasn't bank lobby nice, unfortunately. "I'm Shawn Spencer, Psychic Detective with the SBPD. This is my partner, Detective Gus Wantapopsicklesobad. Could you tell us the room number of the girl that was brought in here with Detective Carlton Lassiter?"

"Yes, Detective Spencer. Head Detective Carlton Lassiter… Jane Doe, room 221." The little redhead smiled up at me, handing me a small piece of paper. I unfold it to see more than a room number. Pretty sure it's her phone number too…

"Here Gus, you can have this." I hand him the little note that I have no need for. I'm not exactly with Juliet yet, or at least it's not official, but I'm not endangering it with a tramp.

Gus looks at the note and sees what is written. His face contorts and he throws the paper behind him. "I don't want that, Shawn. I don't want dirty digits."

"Dirty digits, Gus? What the Hell are those?" I scrunch my brows together, this term being unfamiliar to me. I may want to bank it for later if I like the definition.

"Dirty digits, Shawn. A phone number received in a negative or traumatic situation. Those were dirty digits." Gus throws his head back and his chin up in that arrogant, stuck up sort of way.

"She was hot though, wasn't she?" I bump his elbow to try to get him back down to Earth after his moment of piety.

"You know that's right. C'mon son!" Two catch phrases at once? Damn. "She was fine though… maybe I'll come back… you know, in happier times." This jabronie's got problems, I tell ya.

The little signs on the wall telling me where to go don't really make a lot of sense. There's room numbers and departments, four different cafeterias. Who the fuck needs four cafeterias! One of the aggravating number demons finally has our room range, but the arrow just points up. "Well buddy, we're foiled again. I can't fly or go through solid objects."

"There's an elevator, Shawn." Gus rolls his eyes and leaves me behind in the hallway meant for one of those creepy asylum movies. "Coming, or am I doing this myself?" Gus taps his foot impatiently, like he's my mom or something. I'm happy every day of my life that he's not.

"My foot's asleep." I tell him plainly. "There's nothing I can do about it. I'm sorry. Hey, Gus… Wait, damn it!" My helpless screams fall on deaf ears. Ignoring my pleas for help, Gus boards the elevator and leaves without me. "Gus, you dirty little bastard!" I cry, dragging my stinging foot behind me, the pain nearly unbarable.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Spencer, what took you so long?" Lassie grumbles at me under his breath so as not to disturb the statement taking process. I thought they would have done this by now….

"My foot was asleep." I mouth but don't actually say. "Sorry!" I brush past Gus on my way to Juliet's side. I'll deal with him later. "How's it going, Jules?" I thrust my hands in my pocket at the sight of the poor girl cringing in bed at the approach of another man.

"She won't talk to us. She just shakes her head. She's traumatized, Shawn." Juliet says sadly, her voice alone is enough to make me feel sympathetic to this poor girl.

"Want me to have a try, Jules?" I ask softly with pleading eyes. The tone of my voice is as much to calm the girl as it is for me to tell Jules how much I want this to work. Jules nods slowly and stays next to me though, probably some kind of soft, womanly support. I don't know. "Hi there, my name is Shawn Spencer, I'm with the police here." I stop and wait for some kind of recognition. Her eyes soften a little after hearing I'm on the good team. "Can you tell me what happened?"

She whimpers slightly and pulls her knees to her chest. That's not what I was hoping for. "Can you tell me about the men who did this?" She whimpers a little louder and rests her head on her knees.

"Spencer, it isn't working." Lassiter growls behind my back. I'm not giving up. I've seen girls like this before, back over seas. I'll tell you that story later, I'm sure.

"Detectives Lassiter and Guster, give Detective O'Hara and I a moment please?" I order more than ask, pointing towards the door. We don't need extra people in here, but I need Jules to comfort and support her. I need a caring woman for this.

They leave the room and now it's just the three of us. "Can you tell me your name?" Juliet asks in a voice more soothing than I have ever heard. I have never heard nurses telling dying soldiers that were going to be okay in a voice that sweet, that calming.

"Madison." she replies in a ghost of a whisper. That's a start.

"Hi Madison. My name's Shawn. You're the victim of something horrible, okay?" I begin in the voice I have used to explain to a child why his dad wasn't coming home anymore. "We want to make everything okay again. Is that alright?" Madison nods ever so slightly, looking up at us from under her sandy blonde hair.

Can you talk to us about tonight?" Juliet took Madison's hand in hers. "Anything you remember, anything you can bring yourself to talk about."

"The men… I broke up with Drake…" Her answers kept coming out choppy. "He wanted me back. Wouldn't take no for an answer." Tears began to threaten to pour from her eyes. Her eyes under the current light, resembled the color you get from holding up a brown pop bottle to the light. Juliet moved closer to wrap her in a tight hug.

"It's okay, Madison. You're safe now. We have them in custody and we have you, okay? That's all there is to it." Madison openly wept now, I don't know if the situation was fully hitting her, or if it was relief that it was over.

"We got them, Maddy. They won't get away either. They're going to pay for what they did to you. The most important thing is though, that we need to make sure you are okay. We're going to keep you here until you can be alright on your own, okay?" I hated this part of the army, this part of this job… I couldn't seem to escape it. How do you tell someone that was abused and nearly raped that they are okay? How do you tell someone that they're safe and things can go back to normal again? They can't unsee or undo what they went through. They can't go back in time and replay that day so it doesn't happen. I wish for her sake and for my own unforgiving soul that I could rewind the night and kill those fuckers before they could touch her.

"I, I know things about Drake and his family… things they don't want out." I'm slightly thrown by her English accent. It's not unpleasant though. It's nice, not overly posh and douchie.

"What about Drake?" Jules asks, playing with her hair in a friendly gesture, trying to keep her grounded by contact. "What about his family?"

"His family is powerful, Detective. They won't take kindly to this… interruption." Her choice of words, along with her hesitancy have me a little worried, to be honest. We have her safe and sound in a hospital, we have this Drake asshole, and she's still worried. Is this some Lethal Weapon 2 shit going on? If you don't get the reference, WATCH THE MOVIE!

"What kind of man are we dealing with here, Maddy?" My voice came out darker than I had thought it would. Now we were getting closer to slam time. "Is this the kind of man the cops can handle?"

"I… I'm not sure, honestly. They've never been caught before in their dealings." Madison began to loosen up more now that we were talking about the people who did this instead of what they did to her. "They are slippery, but if you get enough on them, they can go down. They have friends, but not in a legal sense."

"Jules, I think I got all I need." I turned to her, put my hands together and bowed deeply. "Maddy, we'll see that you're taken care of, and that we make things right. I promise." I don't know if it's what I said, or how I said it, but I got a real smile out of that girl. The best part is, I meant it.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The lights are out at the Psych office when I finally get done with my errands. What they were aren't important to you, just a guy living his life.

The door is unlocked, which is kind of weird. Gus should have locked up when he went home over two hours ago. My alarms start going off. Everything is where it should be when I turn the lights on, but I've been in enough situations where my life was on the line to know when I'm not alone. I gently set my backpack down and take out the tools of my new night time trade. I put the knife in my belt, but keep the tomahawk in hand. I pull out my work phone and dial Gus's number as quick as my fingers can move. "Hey buddy. Get your gear and get to the hospital as soon as you can. You know the room, don't ask, just go."

I hang up just in time for what I expected to happen after a bit of searching. I didn't have to though, these guys are just that spirited I guess. "Oh come on guys, only three?" I'm a little insulted they'd send only three men after me, no firearms either! "I'm guessing you know we have Madison, huh?"

"We know. We're here more because you have Drake. He's more valuable than anything that bitch could tell you." I thought the Brits were supposed to be polite and everything….

"Guys, she's not a bitch. I have to know, are you assholes the ones that have been snooping around me since I came home?" The lack of words and sudden charge was really the only answer I needed.

I drop low, damn near to the ground and sweep two of them off their feet. I knew the third one was going to tag me a little. The foot right under my chin was a little more harsh than I had expected. I fall back and kick my feet up, catching the son of a bitch who tried to drop the elbow. Who does he think he is, Dwayne Johnson? C'mon son!

He flips right over me and through my desk. Why my desk, why not Gus's? I don't have anymore time to think than that as I jump up to my feet and run forward, driving my shoulder into one of their ribs. He doesn't look like he's getting up, that was a pretty solid hit. Two down.

I turn around to look for the third guy when I feel his fist hit my jaw. I shake my head to keep myself up before returning with a hard shot of my own. He stubbles, but he's tougher than he looks. He recovers and tries to kick me. He kicks high, above my crotch. I catch his foot and spin him around, throwing him off balance so when he turns around, my boot does connect with his nose.

With that over, I can take a seat at Gus's desk and collect myself before I call this in to Jules and Lassie. I'm going to have to explain to Lassie how I was able to take on three men by myself. Any ideas?


	18. Eating Shit Never Felt So Painless

"Care to explain what happened, Spencer?" Lassiter grilled me as if I asked for this!

"Not really, no. But I guess I will." I try to stall, my fake story isn't quite all there yet. Why couldn't the army have taught me to lie better? "I came into the office to do some late work, and these three guys were already in here fighting over God only knows what. I waited till there was one guy left, and I put him through that desk over there." That seemed like a pretty good cover to me.

"And you don't know what they wanted?" Lassiter looked at me skeptically.

"Pretty sure I just said I didn't, Lassie." I shrug my shoulders like I didn't try to make him look like an idiot. He can have good days, I'll give him that, but this isn't one of them.

"We'll take a look around, see if we can find anything solid." Jules jumped in, trying to make the situation professional again. "And Mr. Spencer, you may want to get that lip checked out." Juliet looked at it with clear concern on her face, but didn't ask me about it. I'm sure she will later. I honestly don't know if it was from the kick to the face I took like a champ, or if it was the solid shot from the last guy.

"Shawn, what happened? Are you alright?" Gus burst through the door of the office, completely out of breath.

"Yeah buddy, I'm fine. Some dudes came in and totally wrecked our office though."

"Fuck!" Gus yelled, jumping up and down seeing the broken desk. "Why did it have to be my desk? Why couldn't it have been your desk, Shawn?" Gus pointed his finger at me as if I asked for this. It's not my fault I had to put a guy through the desk. I didn't have any better options!

"I'm just so happy that your desk is worth more than my well being." I say sarcastically, not even faking hurt.

"Yeah, you're okay, that's great too. Did they take anything?" How insensitive can this guy be? I thought we were like brothers!

I noticed Jules going out the back door and into the alleyway, so I decided to see what the sexy sleuth could see or what I could find.

"What really happened, Shawn?" Juliet asked, closing the door behind me. She guessed I'd follow her.

"I came back here for something, I don't even remember what for now. When I got in, they were waiting for me and I knew it. I took them all down, but they gave me more of a fight than I expected." I chuckle humorlessly, rubbing a hand through my hair. "I think I'm getting a little rusty, Jules."

"I'd say." Juliet commented, stepping into my personal space, her hands cupping my face. "Shawn, you need to be more careful now that we know what we're dealing with." Juliet's hot breath on my lips was making it so hard to focus. All I could see were her blue eyes smashing my walls, making my hard built defences crumble. Her fingertip traced the mean cut I had earned.

I opened my mouth to speak, and she closed the final sliver of a centimeter between us, her lips hungrily attaching to mine making me shiver. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her flush against me. "Jules, I can't lie to you. I can't promise you that I will be okay. I need you to let me go so I don't hurt you."

Juliet only closed the distance again, making me breathless. I can't push her away when she keeps pulling me closer, kissing me senseless. When her core is pressed against my crotch, it's a little hard to see straight. "I know you can't back off Shawn, but I can't either. Maybe a week ago, but not now." Could she please stop kissing my neck and jaw so I can focus? God damn it!

"Then please don't ask me to do something I can't do. I can keep you a lot safer than I can keep myself. I'm willing to take a bullet for you Jules, and before this is over, I just might.

I lost control a bit last night, but I kept my head. As long as I can keep my head, I'll be fine." I tell her truthfully. I can keep her safe by putting my head on the block. But the block is going to take my head for it.

"But how long can you keep your head up? What happens when you burn out and you can't keep going forever? " Juliet took hold of my hand and laced our fingers together, kissing my knuckles. She pulls it away slowly and sees the skin on one of my fingers is broken. She kisses the small cut separately and stares into my eyes again. "When was the last day you weren't hurt, Shawn? By someone else or yourself?"

"O'Hara, anything?" Lassiter's voice came around the door before he did.

"Yeah Carlton, pretty obvious forced entry on the back door. That's how they got in, I'd bet." Smooth recovery, Detective. "Mr. Spencer." Juliet nodded before going back inside, leaving me alone to press my back against the wall and slide down to the ground.

"You okay, man?" Gus asks, joining me on the black top.

"I don't even know anymore, man. You know I laid those guys out, right?" I stuck my fist out for a bump.

"I kind of figured, your busted up lip and all. I knew you were fine though." Gus shrugged, looking on.

"Thanks buddy." I shook Gus's shoulder, making him brush my hand off. "Wanna get something to eat, or…"

"You know that's right!" Gus jumped up to his feet and offered me a hand. I took it, but found myself oddly sore. My head began to ache and I began to wobble. I lost sight and all I could see was that static looking fuzz from a bad TV. "Dude, are you alright?" Gus was looking down at me, offering me a hand again. Since when is he taller than me?

I looked up and padded below me, my hand finding black top. "Did, did I just eat shit?" I ask, completely discombobulated. How great is that word?

"Yeah, it looked like it hurt, too. Did you not feel it?" Gus helped me on my feet and held on to my arm to steady me.

"Spencer, what were you doing on the ground? Trying to get your worm brethren to take you back?" Lassiter laughed at his own terrible joke before taking a sip of coffee. Now I want some…

"Sorry that my vertigo brings me closer to your forefathers, Lassie." A little close to his joke, but look at the day I've had. C'mon son! "Me and Gus are out, peace!" I needed to get some sleep, or get some food and drink in me. Probably both. I'm not feeling too strong right now, my friends.

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I don't know if it's the sleep deprivation or the stress, but I swear everyone here wants a piece of me. "Gus man, can we go somewhere else? I don't like the looks of this place."

"Shawn, this is the fourth place you've said that about. This is also the last place in town that's open this late." Gus refused to leave, which made me a little uneasy. Every little look at us seemed more like a threat. "Shawn, relax. Not everyone is out to get you, and since when did you care if they were?"

"I don't know buddy, something changed. I don't feel so invincible right now. I just want to go home where I can feel safe." I shrugged, keeping my voice down.

"I thought home was the last place you wanted to be?"

"It usually is. I don't know where I want to go, not home, not here, not there." I pointed to some vague direction just to get my point across. "I just want to hop on my bike and drive until nobody knows me, until no one can track me down." I turned and left, feeling cramped and having trouble breathing. Where did this come from? I feel weak, kinda dizzy and now I'm gasping for air. My chest hurts and my head throbs, I feel helpless to make myself better at the moment.

"Shawn, Shawn!" Gus calls out, pushing through the doors of the late night restaurant that I didn't even to care to remember the name of. "Shawn, calm down. It's okay."

"No Gus, it isn't. I'm losing my mind and this is what they want. They get under my skin, in my head and they tear me apart from the inside to the point where I can't fight!" I scream, ripping at my hair. "They're winning, Gus. I'm tired and exhausted. I don't want to fight anymore, I'm tired of fighting and watching people get hurt. I can't do this but I have to at the same time! What the fuck am I supposed to do about it!?" I fall to the ground, my ass hurts from hitting the parking lot but I really don't care. I focus on my breathing but it's still deep and raspy. "I'm not as strong as I was when I left home, Gus. I can't save everyone and myself." I haven't had a panic attack like this since Sphinx died.

"I know Shawn, I know." was all Gus could come to say, draping his arm over my shoulder in support.


	19. One More for the Road

My head had spun out of control, and I needed it back. I needed my head back in the game. I'm Shawn Spencer, damn it! I'm a bad ass, I'm handsome with a hot blonde just waiting for me to get over my insecurities and ask her out. I need to sack up!

I roll my hung over ass out of bed and bang out some push ups! Take the power back! Rage Against the Machine, anyone?

After some push ups in just my boxers, ladies your welcome for that image, I think it's time for some breakfast.

I take my time getting dressed, I don't know what I dreamed about but I feel like I just had my first good day in years. As I come to my living room with a boyish spring in my step, I stop instantly and reach for a dagger I keep in my belt. I feel good today, not stupid.

I come around the corner and smile, seeing my beautiful Jules sitting on my couch. A smile smile of her own graces her face, completely unaware that I'm watching her. I'm going to feel almost selfish when I decide to stop watching her and get on with my day.

I don't even say anything. I go into a dead run and cannonball onto the couch next to her and wrap her into a full body hug. "Good morning Jules!" I sing into her ear as I place kisses all over her face and up and down her neck. "I was hoping I'd see you today."

"What's gotten into you, Shawn?" Juliet giggles as she tickles me to force me off.

"I don't know Jules. Whatever it is though, I want it to stay for good." I cup her adorable face in my hands and kiss her for everything I'm worth, which feels like a lot more than usual.

"I hope so too. You haven't kissed me like that since the first time we... you know." Juliet shrugs and smiles sheepishly.

"That won't happen again until I do one little thing." I tease, leaving plenty of guessing room.

"That being?" Jules asks playing along.

"Juliet Lynn O'Hara, will you go out with me?"

"How do you know my middle name?"

"Not important. Yes or no, woman!" I shout, bringing Jules back to the present.

"Of coarse I will, Shawn! You know how long I've been waiting. We pretty much were, but know it's official."

"Jules baby, you're rambling." I say to get her to slow down.

"And you're on one knee in front of your couch." She points out, making this more awkward than I realized. When and why the Hell am I only on one knee? "Get up here." she orders, pulling me up from under the arms.

We just look at each other but don't go any further. After she pulled me up, she had me thinking something was going to happen. Why aren't either of us moving? I can't look away from her eyes, damn it! "Jules, what are we doing?" I try not to kill the moment, but I'm not really sure what this moment is right now.

"I don't know. I can't really... bring myself to do anything." Juliet admits, a small smile on her face.

"Here's an idea. Jules, just fall forward, right into me."

"Okay." She hums, slowly leaning in until her head is on my chest. Now that she's there, I start to slowly slide down the couch until my body is straight except for my head which is on the arm rest.

I move my arm and grab the remote, turning the volume up on whatever she was watching. Of coarse it had to be Charlie's Angels, God damn it. "Not a bad first date, huh?" I ask while I play with her soft and sleek hair.

"Not bad at all." I wrap my arms around her tighter as she nuzzles into my chest.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

I really fucking hate cell phones sometimes, you know? Me and Jules were having a perfectly good nap when our phones go off, waking us up.

Reluctantly we untangle ourselves from each other and answer the damn things. I'm wondering what's going on, because it's my vigilante phone. "Spencer." I say flatly and down to it.

"You thought she'd be safe? Really? You let me down, Sergeant. Don't do it again." So said the creepiest voice I'd ever heard in my life. The ringing on the other end tells me I don't get to ask questions. The look on Juliet's face right now confirms what ai already know.

"Shawn, they found Madison. It's going to be a lot harder this time." Juliet didn't say anything more.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"What do we got?" I ask as I come into the office, Jules right on my heels.

"Shawn, are you okay?" Gus is by my side in a second.

"Yeah buddy, I'm ripe as a golden pineapple." I refuse to let last night come back. "Should I ask again or am I surrounded by a bunch of Mr. Magoos?"

"He was near sighted Shawn, not deaf."

"You can take a barbell, angle it at 45 degrees and..."

"Gentleman, please!" Vick shouts pulling us back.

"And sit on it!" I got out anyway. He had it coming. Who does Gus think he is, pop culture auto-correct?

Vick sends another icy stair my way, but I'm done anyway. "We've been able to locate where they're keeping Madison, but it's going to be a problem. She's heavily guarded and they'll be able to see all of us coming."

"We need a small team to get in there and break down security? A team that can pick them apart till we can get in there nice and easy?" She didn't say that at all, but that's what I'd do.

"No Mr. Spencer, that's not what I said." Vick tries to clear up. I don't give a shit though, me and Gus are doing this.

"Well than what are we doing here? If we're not going to do anything, why would you disturb Gus's nap time?" It's a fair question!

"Because if anything happens, I want everyone up to date and ready to act if we have the chance."

"Keep an eye on her location, share the location with me and get ready to make some calls." My confidence is back in full. I wink at Jules and make my exit, Gus right behind me.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

I just finished packing the gear with Gus. We have everything we need. Daggers, throwing knives, bow staffs, various none-lethal grenades, tomahawks and body armor. There aren't twenty people alive who could best us right now. "Suit up buddy, it's time." I announce as I pull on my own black Kevlar chest plate. They shoot me with a 9mm and I would barely flinch. A shotgun blast to the chest would knock me on my ass and I'd be up in a minute. Unless they scored a headshot, the ass whooping on my end will be endless.

Gus and I prep in silence for the evening ahead of us. I have confidence in our gear and ability, but I never go into battle with a light heart. Mistakes get people killed in the field.

"Let's go Gus." I turn to go out the back exit to the truck, the lights off and all other doors locked, but before I can make any ground, someone is standing right in my way. "I suggest you leave now." I say in a warning tone, my hands going to my hand ax and K-Bar knife.

The lights flick on and it's Juliet, an unreadable look on her face. "You weren't even going to come see me before your big showdown? You were just going to blow the case wide open and risk your life, without another word to me?" So that's what that look was! She's pissed!

"I don't like send offs, Jules. This is a day at the office, alright? You have no reason to worry about me. Me and Gus have this. I don't give you a long winded goodbye. I make them sweet and caring, but I believe in your ability to come back home every night. I need you to do that with me, okay? This is the final night, the last night. I need to know you're safe at home, comfy in bed or on the couch. I can't work with you stressed out and worrying about whether I'm alive or not. Deep down, you know I'll be back." I finish with no more than a whisper, the distance between us already closed.

"Why couldn't you have made love to me one more time? Why couldn't we be your last memory before going in?" Juliet whispers in my ear, making me shiver.

My mind kicks back quickly. "Because it'll be so much better now when I get back." Now it's her turn to shake a little. "Besides, I want something smaller, a short and powerful moment to hold on to. Not long and drawn out, you know? Gus, look away. Something like this, Jules." Without another word I take hold of the back of her neck, without ever losing eye contact our lips touch, then my eyes close. I don't even have to ask to be let in, my tongue finding her mouth already open for me.

Not quick and sloppy do we kiss, but deadly slow, an almost torturous pace. The movement of our tongues together and our shared fight to hold our breath is possibly the hottest thing I've ever felt.

Finally we break apart, our cheeks red from loss of air. "Wow." is the only reply Juliet has for that.

"That's what I need to hold onto, Jules. That kiss in this moment, right before I go. Not a pressured night together where we try to make it memorable."

Juliet looks down at her feet and I think I see tears forming in her perfect blue eyes. She knows I have to go.

"Keep the bed warm for me, baby." I kiss her head and walk past her to the door. I open it into the garage and let Gus go ahead of me. He's as silent as a Country fan at a Five Finger Death Punch concert. I look back at Juliet to see her visibly shaking with tears.

She knows I won't call this one off. She knows I can't for this Madison's sake and that me and Gus are her only shot right now. I just wish I could make her believe that I'll be back to her before sunrise, that I'm going to be okay. I have to keep the image and feel of our kiss in my head, not what I see and feel right now. I shouldn't have looked back.

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 **Tomorrow begins the last chapter for this story. I can't come up with enough apologies for my absence for you guys. PLEASE REVIEW!**


	20. All Things Must End, Until the Sequel

The mansion they have Madison in comes into view as the truck comes to the gate.

"Who are you? We're not expecting any visitors." A voice says over the com. system on the rod iron fence.

"I know you're not. That's the whole fun of it, Jack!" I say loudly into the system. Without another word I back up and ram the gate at full speed, totaling the truck but breaking through.

I tuck and roll out of the door I kicked open and reach for a pair of throwing daggers, knowing they're coming for me. I'm not worried about Gus. He's getting the girl while I play distraction.

The first guards come at me just to get knives to the chest. I run forward and take my daggers back as I get closer and closer to the grounds.

Three men with small machine guns open up on me as I zigzag across the yard. I know there's no point in throwing daggers right now. That'd be a waste. Knowing the English mob these guys are just hired shit shots with guns they can barely reload.

Getting under the deck is no problem. I hide next to the huge white front doors and wait for the door guards to come out after me. Expecting this, I take out my hatchet and combat knife.

Just as I hoped, three guards come bum rushing the door. They kick it wide open just to spray and pray. Once they're out of ammo, I come out from against the wall and take out a left knee. The other guy doesn't get right arm privileges anymore. He still has his arm, but there's a knife wound in it, so there's that. This last bastard has a hatchet to the right trapezius to deal with now. Those three can suck it.

I return my hand to hand weapons back to their places on my belt and opt for some more daggers. The guy coming down the spiral stair case at me gets a dagger right to the abs for his trouble. "I'll take that, thank you." I tell him as I take my dagger back from his bleeding torso as I run past him.

I get to the top floor and brace for more guards, daggers in hand. "Come out come out wherever you are, motherfuckers!" I call, hoping to draw them out on my terms.

"Oh fuck you guys!" I shout, jumping into the closest room when the hall erupts with gun fire. That wasn't what I wanted at all.

The fire stops and I reach for a smoke grenade pinned to my chest plate. I pull the pin and roll it down the hallway. As it rolls I choose my bow staff. When I hear "grenade!" I assume it's go time.

My make my dash down the foggy hallway, keeping their positions in mind. I come up behind the last room and stand at the back of the hall. The smoke clears and they all peak out their little heads.

The first guy gets my staff straight down on his head for a quick KO. The next one gets the end in the gut and a quick strike across the face. The third guy is a little further down the hall. I use my staff like a poll vault and fly through the air for a dope drop kick. I use that moment to baseball slide right into the fourth guy's legs.

This fucker gets up quicker than I expected and kicks me in the stomach. It knocks me back, but I still have my vest. I kick up to my feet in time to take a fist to the mouth. The fifth and last guy joins in by spearing me to the ground.

These ass holes are mud stomping me together. I catch one of their feet and push him into the other. The guy on the end falls over the balcony and I think he may be dead now. I beat the last guy to my feet, allowing me to get my bow staff back and catch him under the chin with it. That felt like a home run.

I have a clear shot to what looks like the master bedroom. Hopefully Gus is already there, if not long gone with Madison. I gave him orders to get the girl and get the fuck out. He never listens to me though.

"Shawn, I got Madison, let's get the Hell out!" Gus appears in the doorway, an out cold and obviously beat up Madison on his shoulders.

"You know that's right!" I steal his line, but under tonight's circumstances, he's cool about it. The front's all clear. Let's just go the way we came and skip some sweet acrobatics." I offer.

"If we came to kick ass and not get Madison, we'd definitely go for the acrobatic exit." Gus tells me as we set down the hallway together, ignoring the bodies that once stood in my way. Damn morons...

We get to the front door with no problem until I open it, causing the heavy piece of wood to nearly fall off the hinges. They're the ones that kicked it open...

Before we can actually leave the house, a spray of gunfire comes right at us. "Gus, what the Hell did you do?" I ask when the barrage seizes.

"Me, Shawn? This was your idea!" Gus argues back.

"You were all about it till this happened!" What I don't know is who these guys are. Are they back up we didn't know they had? I stick my head around the corner just long enough to see S.W.A.T. vans. "Son of a bitch, it's the good guys!"

"It's the cops?!" Gus shouts, hating our luck. "I suppose you did make a lot of noise."

"Me? You were in on this too, and don't try to justify how fucked we are!" I yell at him, none of this helping our situation.

"We can leave Madison and go out the back. It's the only shot we have of not being identified or shot ourselves." Gus has a good thought here...

"I think we have to do that. They probably have us surrounded, so we may have to fight it out." I warn him.

"Let's just do it. Any way you look at it Shawn, this sucks." I offer Gus a quick fist bump before he gently lays Madison on the ground.

We start out at a full sprint, expecting to need to hit the ground running. When we get to the back, the way seems clear. I take a quick look around, but I don't see anyone. I venture out onto the huge back porch that overlooks a sweet garden. If you're into that stuff or whatever.

Before I can react, ten police officers in full Kevlar pop up from behind the raised porch floor. Gus is still inside, he can still make it. I on the hand, am fucked. I'm caught red handed. No, literally. There is someone's blood on my right hand.

"Hood down and arms up, hero!" Of coarse one of them has to be Lassie.

"How about hood stays up, and I just put my hands up?" I ask hopefully.

"Spencer, what the fuck are you doing here?!" Lassiter barks, pulling my hood down and seeing a small trickle of blood from someone's lucky punch. "Why are you bleeding, Spencer?"

The only offer I give him is me dropping to my knees with my hands behind my head.

"Go check the house, all of you!" Lassiter orders and his men run into the house, weapons drawn.

"You're not going to find any resistance, Detective." I tell him quietly. "The head honcho isn't here, just goons. I'm guessing he left at the first time of trouble, or he wasn't here at all tonight."

"Why are you talking?" Lassiter scowls at me, expecting me to clam right up. He doesn't know me though.

"They probably found Madison at the front door by now."

"Spencer, you know I'm taking you in, right?" Lassiter's tone softens up a bit. I think I see, is that care in his eyes?

"Yeah, I know. Do what you have to do. Whatever happens though, I won't regret this." This is definitely the most serious moment I've ever had with Carlton Lassiter.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"We have to go by the book, Spencer. We're going to hold you until we can further investigate this." Lassie explains like I don't know. What I really don't know is why he's being so cool about it. He jokes about putting me away all the time.

"Can I make this easier on you and just confess that I did all that?" I look at him through the bars, waiting to see the expression on his face.

"That's bullshit Spencer, but I bet you know who did the work while you just witnessed." Lassiter still doesn't believe it was me.

"Lassiter, come on! You know how much hardware you put in evidence. How much of that had blood on it? You saw the blood on my hands before I washed up for processing!" Why can't he just believe I'm actually a bad ass?

"I'm investigating this." Lassiter pointed his finger at me and stormed off.

"Hey, where the fuck is my phone call!" I didn't really need my phone call. I always wanted to say that though. It just sounds right. I sure won't call...

"Shawn!" Oh shit, it's Jules. She was going to be the one I would call last... "You're alive, but behind bars." She seems half way between happy and disappointed. I can get that.

"I told you it was just another day at the office. But how'd you know I was here?"

"Gus called me. He's worried sick about you. He says you can't handle jail." Juliet rolls her eyes, knowing my story herself. I can handle American prison. "Are you okay?" Her voices softens and we interlock our fingers like a cliche movie. You have to be in the situation to actually appreciate it, I guess.

"Bumps, bruises, a scratch. Other than that and the fact that you're not in my bed, I'm good." I shrug, wishing I could get out from behind these bars just for tonight. "It'll be fine Jules, I'll be out soon."

"I'm not leaving until you do, Shawn. I'm staying right here." Juliet tells me softly.

"Jules, Lassie's probably gonna put together what that means." I warn her.

"That we're dating? He'll get over it." Juliet smiles sweetly and sits down in front of the cell.

"Spencer!" I can hear Lassie coming back. He has the keys, what the fuck? "There's someone here to see you."

"He knows I'm in fucking prison, right?" I have to ask. Who's important enough to have me dragged out of a cell?

"He doesn't care, Spencer. After what he told us, I don't think you're coming back to the cell." Lassiter can't just tell me straight up who it is, can he?

The three of climb up the stairs and briskly walk through the ball pen. Apparently Hell is going to freeze if we're not there in five seconds.

"What's going on Chief? I was just in the..." No way. No fucking way. I don't belief this.

"Well hey there Sarge. It's been a while."

"Captain?"

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 **Plenty of room for a sequel, right?**


End file.
